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FARMERS LA 

MINNESOTA EDITION 

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L..V. KOOS 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT 



Farmers' Law 



MINNESOTA EDITION 



LEONARD V. KOOS 

Superintendent of Schools, Glencoe. Author of 
"Farmers' Law for the Short Course" 



Copyright, 1913. 
By Webb Publishing Company 







» 



PREFATORY NOTE 

Two distinct needs have prompted the writing of this 
little book. The thinking farmers of the state have long 
been looking for a concise manual of such common and 
statute law as bears most closely upon them in their every- 
day affairs. They have desired a little volume that will 
set before them briefly what they cannot themselves find, 
having neither the leisure nor access to a legal library. 
Again, the schools of the state, now rapidly adding agri- 
culture to their curricula, have come to need a brief text 
in "Farm Law" which may be placed in the hands of the 
students in the long and short course classes. To more 
nearly meet these needs an effort has been made to couch 
the law, as far as possible, in layman's English, to omit all 
verbiage, and to present only the "bare essentials." Most 
of us, although frequently reminded that "every man is 
presumed to know the law," have despaired of any measure 
of comprehension of its intricacies. Because of the recep- 
tion given the author's earlier pamphlet on "Farmers' Law 
for the Short Course" in which the law was largely stripped 
of its technical terms, he feels that this little book will make 
the law understandable to those for whom these pages have 
been prepared. 

September 26, 1913. L. V. K. 



DEC 29 1913 



:i.A358929 
/C0/ 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

I. LAW IN GENERAL 7 

What Law Is — Written and Unwritten Law — Constitutions 
— Statutes — Common Law. 

II. CONTRACTS 9 

Definition of Contract — Oral and Written Contracts — Express 
and Implied Contracts — Consideration — Who May Make Con- 
tracts — Subject Matter of Contracts — The Statute of Frauds. 

III. ACQUIRING THE FARM 12 

Title — Deed — Kinds of Deeds — Warranty Deed — The Cov- 
enants — Signature — Acceptance — Changes Made in Deeds 
— Right of Husband and Wife to Convey Real Estate — Home- 
stead — Quitclaim Deed — Installment Contracts. 

IV. MORTGAGES 19 

The Use of Farm Mortgages — What the Mortgage Contains 
— Signature, Acknowledgment, etc. — The Mortgage Registry 
Tax — Discharge of Record — Foreclosure — Chattel Mortgages 
— Foreclosure of Chattel Mortgages. 

V. LANDLORD AND TENANT 25 

Definitions — Oral and Written Leases — Covenants of Land- 
lord and Tenant — Tenure of the Lease — Eviction — Right to 
Emblements — Crops on Shares — Right to Timber. 

VI. FARM LABORERS 31 

The Parties — Oral and Written Agreements between Master 
and Servant — Amount of Wages When Not Previously Agreed 
Upon — Obligations of Employer and Employee — Payment of 
Wages to Minors — Responsibility of Employer for Acts of the 
Employee. 

VII. FARM PRODUCTS 33 

Farm Crops Distinguished as Emblements or Real Property 
— The Bearing of the Distinction upon Contracts and upon 
Theft — Manure — Levy upon Grain — Damage to Crops — Seed 
Grain Contracts — Thresher's Lien — Dairy Products — Using 
Preservatives in Dairy Products— ^Adulterated Milk or Cream 
— Discrimination in Prices Paid for Milk, Cream, or Butter- 
fat— "65 Mile" Law. 



4 CONTENTS 

Chaptee Page 

VIII. NURSERY STOCK 38 

Inspection of Nursery Stock — Infested Nursery Stock — Ship- 
ment Within the State — Nursery Stock from Outside the 
State. 

IX. THE SEED LAW 40 

The Law in General — What Seeds the Law Includes — Label- 
ing — Exceptions as to Labeling — Penalties — Testing and In- 
specting Seed — The Rules of the Experiment Station. 

X. WEEDS 44 

"Noxious" Weeds — The Farmer's Duty — The Method of 
Enforcing the Law. 

XL FARM ANIMALS 46 

Estrays — Distraining — Liability of Railroads — Damage 
Caused by Animals — Diseased Animals — Animals Brought 
Into the State — Hog Cholera Serum — Lien of Agisters — Lien 
for Shoeing — Lien for Service of Stallion, etc. — Cruelty to 
Animals — Dogs. 

XII. FARM BOUNDARIES, ROADS ABUTTING ON THE 

FARM, LINE AND LEGAL FENCES 54 

Boundary Disputes — Roads Abutting on the Farm — Streams 
and Lakes as Boundaries — Trees On or Near Boundary Lines 
— Fires Spreading to a Neighbor's Land — Legal Fences — Line 
Fences. 

XIII. WATERS ON THE FARM 60 

Riparian Rights — Surface Waters — Town, County, Judicial, 
and State Ditches — Procedure for County Ditches. 

XIV. ROADS— THEIR ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTE- 
NANCE 64 

Kinds of Roads — State Roads — Surveys, etc., for Same — State 
Aid for State Roads — How It is Paid — The Town Board and 
State Roads — County Roads — Establishing, Altering, or 
Vacating Roads in More Than One Town — Issuing Bonds 
for Permanent Road Improvement — Roads in Two or More 
Counties or on County Lines — Town Boards and Town Roads 
— The Town Road Overseer — Road Taxes in Towns — The 
Dragging Fund — Establishing, Altering, and Vacating Town 
Roads — Roads on Town Lines — Roads in New and Unorgan- 
ized Towns — Cartways — Dedication of Land for Roads 
— Extraordinary Improvement of Town Roads — Drainage of 
Town Roads — Appeals from County and Town Boards — Re- 
moval of Fences by Town or County Boards — Tunnels Under 
Roads — Dedication of Roads by Use — Old Roads Open Two 
Years — Bridges and Culverts. 



CONTENTS 5 

Chapter Page 

XV. THE USE OF ROADS 77 

Meeting and Passing on Roads — At Corners or Cross- Roads 

— Who May Not Drive Motor Vehicles — In Case of Accident 
— Equipment of Motor Vehicles — Intemperate Drivers — Leav- 
ing Horses Unfastened — Traction Engines. 

XVI. TAXES 80 

The Steps in the Taxing Process — Assessment — Moneys and 
Credits — Equalization — Levy — Extending the Taxes — Collec- 
tion — Delinquent Taxes — Distribution — Other Taxes. 

XVII. SCHOOLS 88 

To Form a New District — Setting Off Land to an Adjoining 
District — Dissolving School Districts — The Annual School 
Meeting — Special School Meetings — Powers and Duties of the 
Board — Special State Aid to Rural Schools — Association 
— Consolidation — The Compulsory Education Law. 

XVIII. ELECTIONS— PRIMARY AND GENERAL 96 

Who May Vote — The Elections — Presidential Preference 
Primary Election — The State- Wide Primary Election — The 
General Election — The Corrupt Practices Act — Constitutional 
Amendments — Further Rules as to Elections. 

XIX. WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION 103 

Who May Make a Will — The Form of the Will — Competent 
Witnesses — Should One Draw His Own Will — How Wills are 
Revoked or Canceled — Steps in Administering an Estate 
Where a Will Has Been Made — Executor and Administrator 
— Notice to Creditors — Inventory and Appraisal of the Estate 
— Settlement — Administration Where the Deceased Has Left 
No Will — Descent of Property — The Homestead — Other Real 
Estate — Personal Property — Posthumous Children — Guar- 
dians. 

XX. CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS Ill 

Co-operative Enterprises — Organization — Management — 
Profits — Report of Creameries — Recent Developments in 
Co-operation. 

XXI. PROPERTY INSURANCE —MINNESOTA STAND- 
ARD POLICY 114 

Definitions — The Standard Policy — Obligations of the Insured 
— The Statement — Adjustment. 

XXII. FARMERS' MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES.. 117 
Town Mutual Insurance Companies — Certificate of Incor- 
poration — Kinds of Property Insured — How These Companies 

are Supported — Adjustment of Losses — Mutual Hail, Tor- 
nado and Cyclone Companies. 



6 CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

XXIII. LIFE INSURANCE 121 

What It Is — Ordinary Life Insurance — Limited Payment Life 
Insurance — Term Insurance — Annuity Insurance — Insurable 
Interest — Applications for Insurance — Minnesota Policies 
— Other Important Life Insurance Regulations — Fraternal 
Insurance — Casualty Insurance. 

XXIV. NOTES, CHECKS, AND DRAFTS 130 

Notes — Checks — Drafts — Negotiability — Indorsement — The 
Indorsers' Liability — Date of Maturity — Ambiguous Instru- 
ments — Forged Paper. 

XXV. COMMISSION MERCHANTS 138 

The Function of the Commission Merchant — State Regula- 
tion — Complaints. 

XXVI. AUCTIONS AND AUCTIONEERS 140 

Licensing of Auctioneers — Record of Sales Required — "Bid- 
ding in" at Auctions. 

XXVII. COMMON CARRIERS 142 

Common Carrier Defined — Bill of Lading — Liability of Com- 
mon Carriers — Complaint to Railroad and Warehouse Com- 
mission — Cars — Shipping Live Stock. 

XXVIII. MISCELLANEOUS . 145 

Replevin — Attachment — Garnishment— Injunction— Libel and 
Slander. 

XXIX. THE FARMER AND THE LAWYER 148 

INDEX 150 



FARMERS' LAW 

Minnesota Edition 

CHAPTER I 

LAW IN GENERAL 

Law, in its widest sense, is a rule of conduct. For all 
practical purposes, it may be considered a body of rules of 
conduct laid down and enforced by the authority of a nation 
or state. For instance, when we say that it is a Law of 
Minnesota that "every child between eight and sixteen 
years of age must attend a public school, or a private school, 
in each year during the entire time the public schools of the 
district in which the child resides are in session," we mean 
that it is a rule of conduct for parents or guardians in 
Minnesota in the matter of sending such children to school. 

Law may be classified as written or unwritten law. Writ- 
ten law is found in our constitutions and in our statutes. 
The constitutions are called the "fundamental law of the 
body politic." This means that the constitution contains 
the laws of a community with which all other laws must 
agree and upon which all other laws must be built. The 
fundamental law for the United States is found in its Con- 
stitution, in force since 1789; and all the Acts passed by 
Congress and by the legislatures of the states must be in 
harmony with it or they are declared void. The funda- 
mental law for the State of Minnesota is its Constitution, 
and all the Statutes passed by the State Legislature must 



8 FARMERS' LAW 

be in harmony with this Constitution. In this book the 
name "statute" will be given to those laws passed by the 
Legislature of the State of Minnesota. 

Unwritten law more often goes by the name of common 
law. In the absence of statute law common law prevails. 
In most cases it is simply common sense or "right reason" 
applied to cases not covered by statute law. It is an out- 
growth of long-continued custom as found in the decisions 
of the courts. Most of our law is based upon these unwrit- 
ten rules of conduct, the greatest part of which have come 
down to us from England, although changes have found a 
place from time to time in the courts in different communi- 
ties in this country. 

In our study of these rules of conduct for citizens in 
Minnesota, we shall naturally deal largely with common 
law and the Minnesota Statutes. 



CHAPTER II 

CONTRACTS 

DEFINITION 

Whenever a person buys or sells, whenever he makes 
any kind of bargain or agreement, he makes a contract. 
In brief, whenever for a sufficient consideration a person 
agrees to do or not to do some particular thing, he is said 
to make a contract. 

CLASSES OF CONTRACTS 

In entering into the agreement one may do so by word 
of mouth, when it is called an oral contract, or one may 
put it into writing or printing. In the latter case it is, of 
course, a written contract. 

Contracts are also express or implied. If all the terms 
of the contract are spoken or put in writing, it is an express 
contract. If some of the terms are not spoken or written 
but are understood from the circumstances, it is an implied 
contract. For instance, if I say to the grocer, "Deliver a 
hundred-pound sack of flour at my house and I will pay 
you three dollars for it tomorrow," I make an express con- 
tract. If, instead, I merely say to him, "Deliver a hundred- 
pound sack of flour at my house," it is implied that I will 
pay the market price for it and that it is to be merchantable 
flour. A large porportion of the smaller contracts in daily 
business activities are implied. 

CONSIDERATION 
To make a contract that may be enforced there must 



10 FARMERS' LAW 

be a consideration, — the cause, price, or thing which induces 
the carrying out of the contract. An agreement to make 
outright gift is not a contract. The consideration is not 
always the transfer of money. It may be any benefit to 
the promisor or loss or detriment to the other party to the 
contract, or promisee. 

WHO MAY NOT MAKE CONTRACTS 

Minors are incompetent to make contracts except for 
necessities, such as food, clothing, medical attendance, etc. 
Contracts made by a minor are voidable by the minor when 
he reaches his majority. Idiots, lunatics, and drunken 
persons can not make valid contracts, except that a drunk- 
ard may ratify after he becomes sober a contract made 
while he was intoxicated. In Minnesota married women 
have the same right to make contracts as their husbands. 

SUBJECT MATTER OF CONTRACTS 

The subject matter of a contract may be anything law- 
ful. Any contract to do anything unlawful is illegal and 
void. For instance, contracts to bribe a jury, bets or 
wagers, or contracts in which fraud enters are illegal. 

STATUTE OF FRAUDS 

The following classes of contracts, according to the Stat- 
ute of Frauds, must be in writing: 

(1) Leases of land for a year or more. 

(2) Contracts for the sale of land for a year or more. 
This includes deeds, mortgages, etc. 

(3) Every agreement that by its terms is not to be 
performed within one year from the date of making 
it. 

(4) Promises to answer for the debt of another person. 



CONTRACTS 11 

(5) Contracts for the sale of personal property where 
fifty dollars or more is involved. Where some 
part of the property is delivered, where some part 
of the purchase price is paid to "bind the bargain," 
or where goods are sold at an auction at which 
proper entry is made in the salesbook, contracts 
under the last class do not come under the Statute 
of Frauds and, therefore, need not be in writing. 

With either oral or written contracts it is essential that 
the intention of both parties be clear. Especially when one 
is making a contract in writing should the meaning be made 
clear, for, in the courts, one will not be permitted to change 
by oral testimony the terms of a written contract. 



CHAPTER III 

ACQUIRING THE FARM 

GENERAL 

When a person makes the purchase of any piece of real 
estate, such as a farm, he is said to acquire title to it. Title 
to a farm is evidence which that person has of the right to 
the possession of the farm. The conveyance of the title to 
the farm from the owner, or grantor, to the purchaser, or 
grantee, is made by an instrument called a deed. This deed, 
since it is concerned with the transfer of real estate and 
therefore comes under the Statute of Frauds, must be in 
writing. In Minnesota, deeds are required to be signed 
before two witnesses, acknowledged before an officer 
authorized to administer an oath, and recorded in the office 
of the register of deeds of the county in which the land is 
situated. 

KINDS OF DEEDS 

The three kinds of deeds of which a citizen of Minnesota 
should have knowledge are the warranty, the quitclaim, 
and the mortgage deeds. The last named will be dealt with 
in the separate chapter on mortgages. 

THE WARRANTY DEED 

The warranty deed is the common form for the convey- 
ance of real estate. In addition to granting the land, it con- 
tains warrants or covenants as to the title. The Minnesota 
Statute makes possible the use of the following form of 



ACQUIRING THE FARM 13 

Warranty Deed 

A. B., grantor, of (here insert place of residence), for and in 
consideration of (here insert the consideration) conveys and 
warrants to C. D., grantee, of (here insert place of residence), 

the following described real estate in the county of 

in the State of Minnesota: (here insert the description of 
the premises). 

Dated this day of 19 

Signature 

Attention is called to the words "conveys and warrants" 
in the above form. The description mentioned refers to 
surveys, maps, distances, or boundaries. 

THE COVENANTS 

The same statute provides that when this form is used 
it is to be understood that the grantor makes the following 
covenants with or promises to the grantee : 

Covenant (1) : "that he is lawfully seized of the premises 
in fee simple and has good right to convey same." This is 
called the covenant of seizin. It is simply a warranty that 
the owner has possession of the property described in the 
deed and that he has the right to convey it. 

Covenant (2) : "that the premises are free from all incum- 
brances." This covenant pledges that there are no out- 
standing rights in other persons. This covenant is broken 
by outstanding mortgages, unpaid taxes, mechanics' liens, 
and judgments docketed in the office of the clerk of court of 
the county where the land is situated within ten years 
prior to the date of the conveyance. 

Covenant (3): "that he warrants to the grantee and his 
heirs and assigns the quiet and peaceable possession of the 
premises." The covenant of "quiet and peaceable posses- 
sion" is a promise that the grantee, his heirs, or others who 



14 



FARMERS* LAW 



That the Crawtor..fi£QPga.Il*_ 



j for sons, unmarried %t 



residing in the.. . 1 . 1 .?. i/Jfl pttp..9°. , ; 

County o/.^CLCOd _ .. ...and State of. M^nilCBOta _ f or an d in consideration 

of the sum of J^rte^..?hQHsand ■_ dollars, 

to.hi?!.rrTr:.m hand paid, do^S hereby Convey and Warrant to..!?Phn_T .VT0nllnS0n.0f 

Plgnc.oc..of..thjj.._^^^ 



as Grantee the following described Real Estate, viz: J^P.J^9I^V93_ljS^^^ mm SSJ^SXXlSL^. 

^A*l^M^X.y°^ lShl P,.P^A.H!^red, .plxtqenX 11 6 ) North, Range Thlrty( 3Q_1_ 
Bgyernmen t Surye y , ..con ta In lng. one .Hundred . s lxt y . acres more ,_pr leS8_- 




situate in the County p/_M C -keOd ... jand State of Minnesota. 

Dated at— gisncoe . - . .._ t his. .22nfyrr^r.. day o/.S.OJ^eJILbe.r A. D. 191.$ 

Signed, Sealed and Delivered In Presence of \ ""^^^V^^-^P^S^I^.^ StZSl-* 
C< V^_.,_(_*d!d££<4^ca«afeX-£ ' 

& <P. ( - 





County of E c 3*2* 



On this._22n<l_'_ day o/:.8.eptember .. ..-A. D. 191 3„ before me, a 

ffP.r.jjy.y... °HJ?11C _ within and for said County, personally appeared 

George E. Parsons, unmarried,, 



to me known to be the person described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged 
that he executed the same as.."...~. . free act and deed. yV ^--p ^ - 

C^^^few^^ 

' Notaiw Public 
My CommTss lotr^xpTres "I9l"5 " 

FIG. 1. WARRANTY DEED. (Short Form.) 



ACQUIRING THE FARM 15 

claim title through him shall not be legally disturbed in 
their quiet and peaceable possession of the premises by the 
grantor or his heirs. 

Covenant (4) : that he will defend the title to the prop- 
erty "against all persons who may lawfully claim same." 
If any lawful claim is made by a third party as to the title 
of the grantee to the property, by the fourth covenant the 
grantor pledges compensation for the loss sustained by the 
failure of title up to the amount of the purchase price and 
interest. 

It is rather common practice to include these covenants 
in the form of deed. 

The signature is that of the grantor. The grantee does 
not sign. The conveyance of the farm is completed when 
the deed has been delivered by the grantor. Before accept- 
ing the deed the grantee should make sure that the title is 
perfect in the grantor and that the deed is properly executed. 
A grantee who personally accepts a deed is presumed to 
know its contents. Nor can the grantor have a deed set 
aside because he failed to read it. Any material change 
made in the deed by either party after delivery makes it 
void. If there is no certainty as to the property described 
in the deed it is void. 

A husband and wife may, by a deed in which both join, 
convey real estate belonging to either. Except the home- 
stead, either, by a separate deed, may dispose of the real 
estate belonging to him or her, subject to the rights 
of the other. (Note. The homestead in rural dis- 
tricts, — that is, outside the limits of a city or village — 
includes the house actually occupied by the owner as a 
dwelling and not more than eighty acres of land. Such a 
homestead is exempt from seizure or sale except for debts 



16 FARMERS' LAW 

incurred for work or materials furnished in the building, 
repair, or improvement of the same, or for services of 
laborers or servants.) 

QUITCLAIM DEED 

A quitclaim deed is one which grants merely the interest 
the grantor has. The Minnesota Statute makes possible 
the use of the following form for a 

Quitclaim Deed 

A. B., grantor, of (here insert place of residence), for the con- 
sideration of (here insert the consideration), conveys and quit- 
claims to C. D., grantee, of (here insert place of residence), all 
interest in the following described real estate in the county 

of in the State of Minnesota: (here describe the 

premises.) 

Dated this day of 19 

Signature __ 



If the words "conveys and quitclaims" of this form are 
contrasted with the words "conveys and warrants" in the 
form for warranty deed the essential difference between the 
two kinds of deeds will be seen. The quitclaim deed war- 
rants nothing and the statute contains no covenants that 
are understood to be binding upon the grantor. The quit- 
claim deed does not even assert that the grantor has any 
title to the premises described. In transfers of real estate 
this form is used merely to extinguish possible outstanding 
titles, for example, claims of heirs, for real estate for which 
a grantor or grantee is desirous of obtaining or giving a war- 
ranty deed or for the sake of peace. In buying a farm the 
purchaser should not accept a quitclaim deed without con- 
sulting a competent attorney. 



ACQUIRING THE FARM 



17 



That the Grantor. QG.Orge. ._!!.*„ 



Parsons, unmarried, 



residing in the ..City- 



.o/LGlencoe- 



.for and in consideration 



County o/,.McLeQd .and state /. Minnesota. — T — 

of the sum of. One .....,._.._ ._ : DOLLdIi\ 

fo.hiTO in hand paid, <?o eS hereby Convey, Release and Quit-Claim <a.^Phn...Tr TomllnSOn 

of Glencoe of the County of McLeod and State of Minnesota 

as Grantee all........ interest in and to the following described real estate, viz:}P-C uQYtlViiCST, 

.5y&£ter.itf_SectlOT 

Pan«e Thirty(3_0) West of the Fourth Principal .Meridian__acjcoP(U.ng_Jto 

the United 8tates Government Survey, containing one hundred sixty acres 
more or less__ , 



situate in the County of__f?. c _~99~L- . .and State of Minnesota. 

Bated at ..Glencoe. : this ,22nd.._. -=-r-.day of September 

Signed, Sealed and Delivered In Presence of 



i. D. 101J,. 




County of McLeod 



On this ._?_?.ft d .; • . - ... .day «f September _ _, _._ ___„ J .n. 19&., before me, a 

. .9. . r y . -H - -.P.T — within and for said County, personally appeared 



George E. p a rsons, un married, —— 



to me "known to be the person described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged 
that lie executed the same as)!!.**..-. .free act and^deej 




My commission Expires 1915 
FIG. 2. QUITCLAIM DEED. (Short Form.) 



18 FARMERS' LAW 

ACQUIRING THE FARM UNDER AN INSTALLMENT CON- 
TRACT 

Frequently purchases of farms or other real estate are 
made where the purchaser has a comparatively small 
amount of ready money. He may desire to make part 
payment yearly or at other regular intervals of time. In 
such a case, if the owner of the farm is willing, an install- 
ment contract is entered into, which describes the tract of 
land, contains the agreement to purchase, the dates of the 
payments and their amounts, and a pledge on the part of 
the owner to deliver the deed when all the requirements 
made of the purchaser in the contract have been met. Both 
parties to the agreement are required to sign such a con- 
tract. Of course, the title to the farm remains with the 
owner until full payment has been made. 



CHAPTER IV 

MORTGAGES 

FARM MORTGAGES 

Often the owner of a farm wishes to borrow money and 
offers the farm as security for the loan. This he does by 
giving a mortgage on the farm. The borrower here is the 
mortgagor j while the party making the loan is the mortgagee. 
An illustration of this use is where a person buying a farm 
has not enough money to cover the full purchase price of the 
farm and borrows the remainder in order to make full pay- 
ment. He gives a mortgage on the farm for the amount 
borrowed. 

WHAT THE MORTGAGE CONTAINS 

A mortgage on real estate is a form of deed, and in our 
state is quite commonly called a "mortgage deed." As a 
deed it is a conveyance of title to land but differs from other 
deeds in that it contains a provision that it shall be void and 
of no effect if the mortgagor pays the money at the time 
stated in the mortgage. This provision is known as the 
defeasance clause and may usually be recognized in the 
mortgage deed by its beginning, — "provided, always," or 
"provided, nevertheless." Covenants similar to those 
described under the warranty deed are made by the mort- 
gagor; namely, (1) that he is in lawful possession of the 
premises, (2) that he has good right to convey the same, (3) 
that they are free from all incumbrances, and (4) that he 
warrants the title against all lawful claims. 



20 



FARMERS' LAW 



W^^^roaSligSSI? Made this._25th*.-r77777T7^.day of.-Se-ptesib&r--- 



in the year of our Lord one thousand tune hundred and. „../. .. — between, 

Orlln F. Miller and Helen N. Miller his wife , 



of the County of. 



McLeod. 



rrrrr-.and State o/... M A*fflg?.?.?' A - . p artleB of the first part, and 



John T. Tomllnson. 



of the County of .} lC }'P.9.^. an d State of}Q™QSQt& part. .Y....of the second part, 

WITNESSETH, That the said par&83..of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum- of 

JSIx Hundreds dollars, 

to... tfo.^J L ' in hand paid by the said partV......of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby 

acknowledged, do by these presents Grant, Bargain, Sell and Convey to the said part If.... .of the second 

par£,.._hiS.— 1. .heirs and assigns. Forever. gK... £ hfr.V. tract or parcel of land lying and being 

in the County of..}f.9.^9.9P:. . and State of Minnesota, described as follows, to-wit: 

The Northwest quarter of Section Slxteen(l6) Township One Hundred 

Sixteen^ 1^6.1 N^ 

.Mej^dlan according. Jo .the^ 

tainlng one hundred sixty acres of land more or^legs.. 




$j£o Jfave and to %}oId the M>jme, Together with all lite hereditaments and- appurtenances thereunto 
belonging or in anywise appertaining, unto the said part.?. of the second part,.hlS • _ heirs and 

assigns, FOREVER., And the said -Qrlln..E....iilllejT..and.Hel&n--N-.-Mille-r---h-is— wife- 

part.Z.....of the first part, do covenant with the said party.,.. ..of the second part, ..v.r. 3 .... '.....heirs and 

assigns, as follows: Firsf.that *hei[..WC'.6lawfully seizcdof said premises; Second, that\he yha.y.Q.-.good 
right to convey the same; Third, tJuit the same are free from all encumbrances... .?._9..?P.....?..?.9.?!r.rT.. 

^?ifg- - e .^ e -9^ e ^.,?° -JQftP . J-9AgA-^- ^--.y we Aye..Hundred and noy 100 P.oilars ;, 



-and Fourth, that the said party.. 



his 

of the second part h . .'. heirs and assigns, shall quietly enjoy and possess the same; and that the 

said part..J?...of the first part will Warrant and Defend the title to the same against all lawful claims. 

FIG. 3. MORTGAGE DEED. (First Page.) 



MORTGAGES 21 



PROVIDED, XEVERTBXLESS, That if the said.' 



. part\rpSqf the first part, tf'Q% Theirs, executors or 
aid mart.*!— .of the second, nart. _ *A *■ ~ *.: "heirs 



administrators, shall well and truly pay, or cause to be paid, to the said part. Si. ..of the second part, . r.K . . ~. .". .' "heirs, 

executors, administrators or assigns, the sum 0/ .„...._„ ..7:. !.S* J -..v~.. 7\"_ '...Dollars, and interest, 

according to the condition, of...one. ..prornl.sspry..liPie...rQl , ...aix. J Hundr.ed...Iiailar£ .bearln-g. 
.®^S^t..Mr cent, interest _^ 



bearing even date herewith, and also to pay all taxes which now are. or may be hereafter assessed on said premises as they 
shall become due, then this deed to be null and void. But if default shall be made in the payment of said sum of money, 
or the interest, or the taxes, or uny-pa/A thereof, at the time and in the manner hereinbefore or hereinafter specified for 

the payment thereof, the said part of the first part, in such case do hereby authorize and fully empower the said 

part. Jr.. .of the second part,. a*±P. heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, to sell the said hereby granted premises, 

and convey the same to the purchaser, in fee simple, agreeably to the statute in such case made and provided, and out of the 
moneys arising from. such sale to retain the principal and interest which shall then l>n due on said note , and all taxes 

upon said lands, together with all the costs and charges, and also the sum of.r..f-. .4- .y. tf- •-Vol lars, as Attorney's 

fees, and pay the overplus, if any, to the said part±Q.§>f the first part,\tXlQL±heirs, executors, administrators or assigns. 

Orlln r. Wilier and Helen N. Miller his wife 



And the said. 



do further covenant and agree to and with the said partJrrr.of the second part ,*)■.*:*? heirs, executors, administrators 

and assigns, to pay said sum of money above specified at the time and in the manner above mentioned, together with all 

the costs and expenses, if any there shall he; and, also, in case of the foreclosure of this Mortgage, the sum of+.J-A.itif.rrr. 



. - .: . Dollars as Attorney's fees in addition to all sums and costs allowed in that behalf by law, which said 

sum 15 hereby acknowledged and declared to be a part of the debt hereby secured, and which shall be assessed and payable 
as part of said debt, and that he will pay all taxes and assessments of every nature that may be assessed on said premises, 
or any part thereof, previous to thed&y appointed by law for the sale of lands for town, city, county or state taxes. And if 
default be made by the said partes **?..of the first part, in any of the foregoing provisions, it shall be lawful for the said 

part.y...of the second part,.llXB. 7. -heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, or. )xLS - m - ' -"^. .Attorney , to declare the 

whole sum above specified to be due and payabtea , . ^^ 

JJCTESTIMOXY WHERROF, The said partT.Y.r.of the first part haY.P.. hereunto set..^XlQlT...haridS and ajjlxed.kUGK 
sear* \ " 



the day and year first above written. 
Signed, Sealed and Delivered in Presence of 







§fate of ^gznntsofa, 

County 01-M9.M.9JL > J 

On this.. 2 }. 1 . 1 }.:. day of.§?P±?3}**r J. D. 191~h.., before me, a 

...P.r.r:T.K..F^r.~~P. _; within and for said County, personally appeared 

9.V±Q..L:..}*lV--.fJ...a^ 

to me knoivn to be the person Q described in and wlio executed the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged 
thatt he yextcuted the same os.-.T-VJlr.?- free act and deed./y — > 

..O^^^W. 

^^otary public 
My coiwftisMon Expires 193.5" 

FIG. 4. MORTGAGE DEED. (Second Page.) 



22 FARMERS' LAW 

SIGNATURE, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, FILING, ETC 

In Minnesota, the mortgage deed is subject to the same 
regulations as to signature, seal, witnesses, acknowledgment, 
and record as all other deeds. These requirements have 
been given in the previous chapter. There is also a tax of 
fifteen cents for every hundred dollars (or fraction of a 
hundred dollars) of the mortgage debt for filing the mort- 
gage in the office of the register of deeds of the county in 
which the land is situated. If the mortgage is to run 
through more than five years the filing fee is twenty-five 
cents per hundred dollars of the debt. This is known as 
the registration tax. In the absence of an agreement this 
tax must be paid by the mortgagee. 

Mortgages are effective in the order of their filing, and, 
in foreclosing, the second mortgagee gets nothing until the 
first mortgage is paid in full. For this important reason, 
second mortgages are not in great demand as compared with 
first mortgages. This filing is a protection to the mort- 
gagee and is notice to the world that he has a lien on the 
property of the mortgagor. Mortgages not recorded are 
of no effect as against any later purchaser in good faith, 
that is, any person buying the land or accepting a mortgage 
on it for a valuable consideration and without knowledge of 
the unrecorded mortgage. 

DISCHARGE OF RECORD 

When a mortgage debt is paid the mortgage deed is 
discharged of record by filing in the office of the register of 
deeds where the mortgage has been recorded a "certificate 
of satisfaction" which has been acknowledged and signed by 
the mortgagee or by a memorandum signed by him on the 
margin of the record. Should the mortgagee fail to discharge 
the mortgage within ten days after the date of payment of 



MORTGAGES 23 

the mortgage debt he is liable for all damages due to his 
neglect. 

FORECLOSURE 

When the debt which is secured by the mortgage is not 
paid as agreed, the mortgagee has the right to foreclose. 
Foreclosure is simply the proceedings by which the premises 
are sold and the proceeds of the sale are applied to the mort- 
gage debt. If the proceeds of the sale are more than enough 
to cover the mortgage debt and the costs of foreclosure, the 
surplus goes to the mortgagor. The sale is made by the 
sheriff. After the date of the sale the mortgagor has a right 
to redeem during twelve months by paying the sum for 
which the property was sold and interest at the rate pro- 
vided in the mortgage or, if the rate is not fixed in the 
mortgage, at the rate of six per cent. 

CHATTEL MORTGAGES 

A chattel mortgage is a mortgage on personal property 
such as crops, live stock, farm machinery, furniture, etc. 
As in the case of the real estate mortgage, it is a condi- 
tional sale of the property to secure a debt and is void upon 
the payment of the debt. Chattel mortgages, since the 
first of July, 1913, are filed with the register of deeds of the 
county in which the property mortgaged is located. The 
fee for riling is ten cents for each instrument. After pay- 
ment of the mortgage debt by the mortgagor the mortgagee 
must satisfy the mortgage by delivering satisfactions to the 
mortgagor and to the officer with whom the mortgage was 
filed. 

FORECLOSURE OF CHATTEL MORTGAGES 

Where the debt is not paid, foreclosure may be made 
and the property sold. Ten days' notice must be given the 



24 



FARMERS' LAW 



gnaw all 3$en bg these presents, null ..Qr lln .P., Miller.: 
, Glencoe— , 



State of Minnesota, for the purpose of securing the paymcot 



~" Nrnet'y""ahd"iid^l00^ 



McLeod 



Xkmnty of „ . V. "... . . . 7. '. r . in the 



rrDollars and interest according to the conditions of...y.f... promissory note 



one 



O„o note. date.. MH .Y. . 15 190 .?... f„ r ,..?0.. 00 doe .„ JUly„.l£ l90 .?„ 

One note, date -...190 for $ due , n I?? — 

Outi uuie, date 190 for $ due 19. .. 

do hereby grant, bargain, sell and mortgage unto.--.H-9D-0._._T..\„ TOrollnSOjl and.Jll.S.. 



assigns, t lie following described personal property, now in my possession, owned by mo and free from all incumbrance, to-wit: 

One roan horse, fourteen hands high, weighing about twelve hundred pounds, 

known as Dick > 



PROVIDED, That if the undersigned shall pay the said debt, according to the said note , then this mortgage shall be void. And it is hereby agreed that if 
djfaolt shall be made in the payment of said debt or any part thereof, or if any attempt be made to remove or dispose of said property, or if at any time the said 

■■.„v.P.hn„ r_,_Tpmll_nson , ball dcem the 3aid dobt unsaf0 or insecure 

he is hereby authorized, either by himself or agent, to enter upon the premises where the said property may be and remove and sell the same at public 
auction, with a notice as provided by law, and without demand or performance, and ont of the proceeds retain the amount then owing on said debt, with eipeneea 

attending the same, including.. A Mil _- "Dollars attorney's fees, rendering to the undersigned the surplus, after tho whole of said debt 

shall have been paid, with charges aforesaid; said attorney's fees and expenses shall become absolutely due and payable whenever foreclosure hereof is commenced, 
and the delivery of this mortgage to any party with the intent to have the same foreclosed, shall be understood and construed to, b e a commencement of foreclosure, 
WITNESS..?!\y.hand and seal this...^. ji^fty of—M^y. : _ 190.9. /l) * ^^^0n*> ' sf/2 

# ft ft/SJ>S>^ XM^O^^.ZiSiC^^L CSEALJ 

In Pmsbiicb or.....W.:..L*.-...W<f<k&<fc«i*S-?.t 



-JZ^r- 



_„..[SEAL) 



FIG. 5. CHATTEL MORTGAGE. 



mortgagor that the property is to be sold and ten days' 
posted notice is required. The property may be redeemed 
before the sale or at any time within two days after the sale, 
— before the sale, by the payment of the debt and all law- 
ful expense for care of the property ; after the sale, by paying 
to the purchaser the amount for which the property wa9 
sold with costs and expenses for keeping during the time 
allowed for redemption. 



CHAPTER V 

LANDLORD AND TENANT 

DEFINITIONS 

A tenant obtains the use of a farm or other real property 
by means of a contract known as a lease. The owner of the 
farm in such a case is called the landlord, or lessor, and 
the tenant is referred to as the lessee. The consideration 
paid for the use of the land is rent. 

ORAL AND WRITTEN LEASES 

Leases ending within one year from the date of the con- 
tract need not be in writing, although, under most circum- 
stances, it is best for them to be so. But leases for more 
than a year must be in writing; if unwritten, they are void 
under the Statute of Frauds. By being void is meant that 
they are not only non-enforceable but are of no effect. A 
written note or memorandum will pass for a written lease 
if it describes the land with reasonable certainty, contains 
the names of both the lessor and the lessee, the rental 
agreed upon, and is signed by the lessor. It is always 
safest for both parties, however, if a full formal lease cover- 
ing all the agreement is drawn up and properly executed. 

COVENANTS OF LANDLORD AND TENANT 

In the lease both the landlord and tenant enter into 
pledges, or covenants, express or implied. The implied 
covenants hold the parties whether or not they are men- 
tioned. The landlord impliedly pledges quiet enioyment 



26 



by and between. 



FARMERS' LAW 

_HSg Made _te_. 3rd .__ rfa?/ /_.October iW 3 

Herbert K. Hanson : 



, 7 * Edwin N. Williams 

party of the first part, lessor , and. 



of the Township of.^Y.^}.. .... ' . ..County o/ McLeO d -...State of Minnesota, 

party of the second part, T.psxp.p., - _ — - — ~. 

WITNESSETH, That the said party of the first part, in consideration of the rents and covenants 
hereinafter mentioned, does hereby Demise, Lease and Let unto the said party of the second part, and the 
said party of the second part does hereby hire and take from the said party of the first part, the following 
described premises, situated in the County o f MCLe pd -— - — _ __and State of Minnesota, viz: 

The Northwest quarter' 

in Section Number _±f>— ..Township Number _11_v__t_t Mange Number _3-0___H_». Containing .._l60_rrrrrrv^crc*, 
be the same more or less, of which described premises the second party hereby agrees to plow and put into 
crops not less than.* . „ „.P_ ^ J_ ___ f_ _?_ . _ „ _7_ . acres each year during the continuance of this Lease. 

To Have and to Hold, The above rented premises, unto the said second party,. •*..__ heirs and assigns, 
subject to the conditions and limitations hereinafter mentioned, for and during the fuVl term of..y*\T.P,$.. 

pears from and after the.~_r. V _ S _t_ ..day of.. „¥ aI> 9^ 1 _ .. .19J.P.., the term of this 

Lease ending the..Sl?*$. day o/...^. ar .?fi .191$.. 

*dnd the said second party agrees to and with the said first party to pay as rent for the above 
mentioned premises, for and during the term of this Lease, the sum of ___!&¥&_&_ $]&(££&&_ YX££.1[t?T. 

noiiar. % on th* 1 st dny o f December 19I 3 

and an equal s um on the 1st, da y of Decem ber, 191 1 *- and 1915 at th e 

First National BanX or Hutchinson— . 



<ind in addition to such amount $.P_ _.__ per acre for each and every acre cultivated on above 

described premises in exdess rf one hundred ten . .anrex,» 

<tnd the said second party further agrees that in addition to the rent before specified ..Or*. will also 

pay all taxes that may be assessed against said premises for the year B 101.7 *.~S.~P..AJ}Q..±7iM and 

pay the same before the same become delinquent. 

And It Is Further Agreed, By and between the parties as follows: That should the said second party fail to make the above 
mentioned payments as herein specified, or to pay any of the rent aforesaid when, due, or fail to fulfill any of the covenants 
Herein contained, then and in that case said first party may re-enter and take possession of the above rented premises, 
and hold and enjoy the same without such re-entering working a forfeiture of the rents to be paid by the said second 
party for the full term of this lease. That if the said first party sells said premises during the life of this lease and 
ttefore the crop is in the ground, and desires to give possession to •&}& ^purchaser ^thaLt he second party will forthwith 

surrender possession of said leased premises upon the payment to... of S ------- — per acre for each acre of said 

premises newly plowed by said second party at the time said possession- is demanded; if sold after the crop is in, then said 
second party shall have the right to remove such crop when ready to be harvested. That if said first party sells said 
premises during the term of this lease, the purchaser may at any time enter upon the leased premises for the purpose of 
plowing, breaking more land, summer-fallowing, cultivating or otherwise improving any part of said premises not in 
actual cultivation by said second party, and without such entry working any forfeiture of the rents herein agreed to be 
paid. That if said second party remains in possession of said premises after the expiration of the term for which they are 
Miereby leased, such possession shall not be construed to be a renewal of th is lease, but to he a tenancy at the will of the said 
first party, which maube terminated upon ten days' notice, given by the said first narty in writing, either delivered to 

second party or sent to. ........ V.- + W* a sealed envelope, duly stamped and directed _o -.._-_-: a.tiiiLCJTllnftQJ_i.7-__-T-.-. 

ivhich is hereby declared by to be. .MA*?. usual Post-office address. 

Jlnd the said second party also covenants and agrees to and with the said first party, not to assign this lease or 
underlet the above rented premises or any part thereof, without first obtaining the written consent of the said first party 

and that--..-—. ~ '..will, at the expiration of the time as herein recited, quietly yield and surrender the aforesaid 

premises to the said first party, his heirs or assigns, in as good condition and repair as when taken, reasonable wear and 
tear and damage*by the elements alone excepted. Said second party also covenants and agrees to cultivate the hereby 
leased premises in a careful and husband-like manner, and to maintain and keep up the fences sc us to protect all crops 
from injury and waste, and to protect the fruit and shade trees thereon, and to cut no green trees and to commit no waste 
or damage on said real estate and to suffer none to be done; and to keep tip and maintain in good repair all buildings, 
stables, cribs, fences and improvements on said farm.; and further agrees not to remove any straw or manure from said 
farm, but to spread upon said premises all manure made thereon. c 

And the said first party covenants that the said second party, on paying the rent and performing the covenants 
aforesaid, shall peaceably and quietly have, hold and enjoy the said demised premises for the term, aforesaid. 

To. secure the payment of the rents herein specified and the faithful performance and strict fulfillment of all the 
covenants of said second party in this lease contained, said second party does hereby expressly mortgage unto said first 
party all crops growing or grown on said premises during the term of this lease, and does hereby expressly authorize and 
fully empower said first parly in the case of any default on the part of said second party in paying said rent or in 
performing any of the covenants in this lease, to seize and take possession of <;uid mortgaged property at once, and sell the 
same at public auction, with notice as provided by law, and out of the proceeds of said sale, to pay and discharge all 
rents, damages and expenses which may at the time be due and incurred, and pay over to said second party ./« surplus 
money arising from such sale. 



FIG. 6. BODY OF A CASH RENT FARM LEASE. 
(With Chattel Mortgage Clause.) 



LANDLORD AND TENANT 27 



£n ^cr.timonn ^hereof. Both parties have hereunto set their Jumds and seals the day and year 
hereinbefore written. 

Signed, Sealed and Delivered in Presence of 



^tate off ^innesoto, 

County of McLe0d 



Ore i!/i.« 3rd. day of QC tppgl'. ,j. £». i5>i3., 6e/ore me, o 

Notary PUbllC — . _ — within and for said County, personally appeared 

Herbert K. Hanson and Edwin N. YtllliamS 



to me known to be the person ^ described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged 
that ^ he y executed the same as..y.h^.\V free act and dud. ^—\ , 



iotary.. Public ... ~ 

My commission Expires 1915 

FIG. 7. CASH RENT FARM LEASE. (Signature and Acknowledgment.) 



and the payment of taxes assessed against the property ; the 
tenant, that he will pay the rent specified and will make 
tenant-like repairs. Contrary to general belief the landlord 
is not under obligation to keep the property in repair unless 
the lease so provides. Where the lease is silent, the tenant 
is bound to repair all ordinary breakage and to keep the 
premises "wind and water tight." But, by statute, the 
lessee is not liable for rent where, without fault or neglect 
on his part, the buildings are destroyed or so injured by the 
elements or other cause as to be unfit for occupancy, unless 
the contract expressly so states. In the lease of a farm the 



28 



FARMERS' LAW 



(EI?is QQt$tmmt,Madcthu3jrt^ 



-day o/lDjBJcfifbttZL: 



A.D.19 X A, by and between. JdWln ^ Of Lynn... COUnty 

9? MckgQ.^. £M^ - --» - - — ; — ■ — 

party of the first part, and .2ifiZ££CLJLiu^UiaQa .of...ALe..„JC.lL.y „or_ilntchlnsGn r ...Count-y 
of NcLeod and Stats ^ of Minnesota — ■,..,„■ 

owner of the real estate hereinafter described, party of the second part 

IDittlCSSCtlj, That the party of the first part hereby agrees to and with the party of the second 
part, for the consideration hereinafter named, to well and faithfully till and farm during the season 

of farming in the year 1B^js=3sss^-j^^ wVL^ and 

ending _M?J^.9.v ..A? P.J..P. ■ - 1 -5- , inagood and husband-like manner, and accordingto 

the usual course of husbandry, the following described premises and real estate situate in the County 
of IfcLeOd — __W State of Minnesota, viz The^Nort^ 

of Section 16 In Township 11 6 Nqrth, Ra nge 30 Vest of the..Fgurth..PXln- 

cipal Meridian : ^ , 




And the said party of the first part hereby further agrees to sow and plant the said land in such crops 
as the party of the second part may direct, but said second party is to furnish all seeds necessary to sow 

and plant said land, and is to pay one !fJ3*.?S- ~ of the threshing machine bill 

for threshing the grain ., — , . - , .. = 



The party of the first also agree*. to furnish, at biB own coat and expense, all proper and convergent tools, teams, utensil*, farm 
Implements and machinery (excepting as hereinafter otherwise provided) to carry on and cultivate said farm during said season, and to furnish 
end provide all proper assistance and hired help in and about the cultivation and management of said farm, and to farm and cultivate the salt* 
lands to the best advantage and according to bis best skill and judgment, and to maintain and keep up the fences so as to protect said crop* 
from Injury and waste, tut second port y Is to furnish material ; and to watch, care for and protect the fruit and shade trees thereon, and to cut 
no green trees and to commit no waste or damage on said real estate and to suffer none to be done, and to crop and cultivate said lands, and 
harvest, thresh and secure the crops grown thereon in a farmer-like style and In the best possible manner during said season, and after taking off 
the crops to plow immediately In a good and proper manner so much and such parts of said farm suitable for a succeeding crop as shall be 
plowed at the time the party of the first port takes possession thereof, and to keep up and maintain in good repair all buildings, stables, cribs, 
fences and improvements on said farm, but said second party is to famish material; and generallvdo and perform all proper and ordinary 
work, labor, care and skill requisite, usual or necessary to work and crop said premises in a proper manner and style and to the best interests of 
the party of the secood part ; and further agrees not to remove any 6traw or manure from said farm, but to haul out and spread on said 
premises all manure made thereon, and not to sell or remove or suffer to be sold or removed any of the produce of said farm or premises, or the 
stock, increase, income or the products herein mentioned of any kind, character t 
consent of the party of the second part ; and until such division the title and pes: 
and products raised, grown or produced on said premises shall be and remain In the party of the second part, and said party of the second part 
has a right to take and bold enough of the crops, stock, increase, income and products that would on the division of the.uour belong to said 
party of tbe first part, to repay any and all advances made to him by party of the second part and interest thereon at....P. .rr.A „ ., percent per 
annum, and also to pay all indebtedness due said party of the second part by said party of the first part, if any there be. The party of the first 
part is, also, to work out the road tax on all the said land. It is alsp agreed that in case said party of the first part neglects or fails to perform 
any of -the conditions and terms of thlc contract on bis part to be done and performed, then said party of the second partis hereby authorized 
.and empowered to enter upon said premises and take full and absolute possession of the same, and be may do and perform ajl things agreed to 
be done by the party of tbe fint part remaining undone, and to retain or sell sufficient of tbe crops raised on said premises that would otherwise 
belong to aaid first party If be had Becformed the conditions hereof, to pay and satisfy all costs and expenses of every klndtncarrcd in performing 

•aid contract, \yith interest at .... per rent per annum, the residue remaining, it any, of said crops, shall belong to the said party of the 

first part, after all' conditions are fulfilled. 



description, until tbe division thereof, without the 
of all hay, grain, crops, produce, stock, 






In consideration of the faithful and diligent performance of all the stipulations of this contract 
by the party of the first part, the party of the second part agrees, upon reasonable request thereafter 

made, to give and deliver on said farm, the ^.!^9.T.ih.%X^3. *. - - .._ 

of all grains, vegetables ..» hay .and fruit ■ - ■ 

so raised and secured upon said farm during said sen^nn. 



FIG. 8. BODY OF FARM LEASE. (With Crop on Shares.) 



LANDLORD AND TENANT 29 

3t1 (Testimony EDbeteof, Both parties have hereunto set their hands and seals the^day and year 



hereinbefore written. 

Signed, Seated Bad Delivered In Presence of 

l^L^e.. 



Cpd^x^^ ^ ^^^-^^^)~s^r^ 



County of "?£ 



State of JTlinnesota, 

McLeod 



On tais-3.Mjt _-_ -d ay of.. .0C.tOb.ar. - A . D. 

19 13.... before me, a3?AZJ3„™±±5_ _ _ within 

and for said County, personally appeared.. E&Wln M . "W 1 T 1 1 firpa find 

Herbert K. Hanson 



to me known to be the pcrson°.....described in and who executed the foregoing 

instrument and acknowledged that ^.y. he* .... executed the same as %XiO%X.—.free 

act and deed. 



Notary public 

My Commission Expires 1915 
FIG. 7. FARM LEASE WITH CROP ON SHARES. 
(Signature and Acknowledgment.) 

lessee also impliedly promises to cultivate it in a husband- 
like manner. 

TENURE OF THE LEASE 

A tenant of a farm who plans not to have a lease extend- 
ed should move from the leased property at the end of the 
term, for, if a tenant has been in possession under a lease 
for one or more years and holds over without making a new 
lease, he may be considered a "tenant from year to year." 
This means that his term is extended for a year beyond the 
date of the termination of the lease. 

The relation of landlord and tenant may cease (1) by 
the consent of both parties, (2) by breach of covenant, or 
(3) by eviction of the tenant. If the lease is oral, an oral 
agreement to end the relation of landlord and tenant is 
valid ; but if the lease is in writing, an oral surrender is not 
enough unless the landlord takes actual possession. If the 
tenant breaks an express or implied covenant the landlord 
usually has the right of re-entry. 



30 FARMERS' LAW 

EVICTION 
In Minnesota, when a lessee holds over lands after the 
termination of the time for which they are leased to him, or 
contrary to the conditions or covenants of the lease, or 
after any rent comes due according to the terms of the 
lease, the person entitled to the premises may obtain posses- 
sion by an action in court. 

RIGHTS OF THE LESSEE TO EMBLEMENTS 
When, through some cause not the fault of the lessee, 
the relation of landlord and tenant ends, the tenant is en- 
titled to emblements. Thus, all grains and other products 
planted and cultivated by the tenant are his to harvest, if 
the lease is terminated through some act not his. But if 
the cause of the termination rests with the tenant, he must 
suffer the loss of the emblements. Whenever the landlord 
re-enters the farm he is entitled to the crops. 

DIVIDING CROPS UNDER LEASE ON SHARES 
Where the lease provides that the tenant shall farm the 
land on shares and no time is set for dividing the crop, the 
time for division is taken to be the date when the crop is 
harvested. 

ESTOVERS 

A tenant, unless the lease so directs, may not cut the 
standing timber on the land in order to sell it. He may 
not dispose of it in any other way. What he cuts must be 
used on the farm. He is not permitted to cut down live 
trees for fuel, although he has the right to use all dead 
standing and fallen timber for this purpose. He may also 
cut standing timber for purposes of repair. 

A statement as to who has the right to manure on a farm 
that is being worked under a lease is made in the chapter on 
Farm Products. 



CHAPTER VI 

FARM LABORERS 

All persons who work for others are classed in law as 
servants. The relation of the farmer and the laborer he 
hires is that of master and servant, or employer and em- 
ployee. The contract is an agreement to perform some gen- 
eral or particular farm service for pay or wages. 

Under the Statute of Frauds, if the employment is to be 
for a year or more, the contract, to be valid, is required to be 
in writing. For periods of service of less than a year the 
contract may be an oral agreement. Whether the agree- 
ment be oral or written, it is important that there be a very 
clear understanding between employer and employee as to 
the obligations of each in the contract. 

If the amount of the wages is not definitely agreed upon 
at the time the laborer enters into the service, he may 
collect "reasonable" wages. Reasonable wages are those 
commonly being paid for like services at the time and place 
where the wages are in question. When a laborer performs 
services for an employer, it is taken for granted that com- 
pensation is to be made. 

Where the length of the employment is not fixed by an 
agreement of employer and employee, either may end the 
term at any time. Where the employment is for a fixed 
time, the laborer is bound to serve during such time, except 
for cause such as sickness, other physical inability, or failure 
of the employer to carry out his part of the contract. The 
employer, on his part, is bound to provide the employee 



32 FARMERS' LAW 

with work for all the time pledged in the contract, and he 
can not plead that he has no work for the employee. Where 
the employee remains idle under such a contract, the 
employer is liable to make compensation according to the 
terms of the contract. A laborer who is discharged by his 
employer, even for sufficient cause, has a right to his wages 
until the time of dismissal. But, if he quits work before his 
time is up or before the work contracted to be done is com- 
pleted, without good excuse, he is entitled to no pay. 

The employer has a right to discharge a laborer for any 
good cause. Some good grounds for discharge are: refusal 
to obey a reasonable order, habitual drunkenness, insolence 
toward employer, absence for a day without permission 
during a season when his labor is greatly needed, criminal 
offences, etc. On the other hand, an employee may quit 
the service of his employer for, among others, the following 
reasons : where the lodging furnished by the employer is 
uncleanly or the food unwholesome, if the employer is cruel 
toward his servant, if he requires the servant to work beyond 
necessary care of livestock on Sundays, and if the hours of 
labor are unreasonable. In reviewing these grievances it is 
well to recall that farm laborers in Minnesota do not come 
under the statute making ten hours a day's work for hire. 

In Minnesota, payment to a minor of wages is valid 
payment unless the parent or guardian notifies the em- 
ployer to the contrary. A minor is any male person under 
twenty-one years of age and any female under eighteen. 

It is a well established principle of common law that a 
man must manage his own affairs so as not to injure others. 
This principle applies whether a man acts in person or 
through an agent. An employer is thus made responsible 
for injury done through the negligence of his servant while 
about the performance of duties for which he is hired. 



CHAPTER VII 

FARM PRODUCTS 

Trees and other natural products are considered real 
property until they are detached from the earth as separate 
things. Detached, they are personal property. For in- 
stance, standing timber is considered real estate, but when 
cut into cordwood it becomes personal property. When 
we consider crops, however, we find them divided into two 
classes: those that grow without special cultivation and 
those that return the labor and expense put upon them 
strictly within the year. The latter are known as emble- 
ments. Grasses, both wild and tame, growing from year to 
year, and fruit growing on trees or bushes are examples of 
the former, while corn, wheat, oats, and vegetables are 
examples of emblements. Emblements are held in law 
as personal property even before they are severed from the 
soil and are, of course, personal property after being 
detached, while the others are real property until detached, 
when they become personal property. Under modern 
methods of fruit growing, orchards are cultivated and fertil- 
ized, thus increasing the yield by yearly labor. But this 
does not place the yield in the class of chattels before the 
yield is severed from the trees or bushes. 

The reason for using space here for making the above 
classes will be seen from the following applications. Con- 
tracts for transfers of real estate are void if not written. 
Therefore, for instance, an oral contract for the sale of 
wild grass on uncultivated land or of fruit on trees in an 



34 FARMERS' LAW 

orchard is of no effect. Such contracts must be in writing. 
But contracts for emblements are merely sales of chattels 
and are valid if oral and to be performed within the year. 
If, however, the owner is to cut the grass or pick the fruit, 
the sale will not be completed until these crops are severed. 
When severed they are no longer part of the real estate, 
and the contract becomes valid. Another interesting appli- 
cation frequently made use of grows out of these distinc- 
tions. The theft of a part of the real estate is in reality 
trespass. Theft of personal property is larceny. But, in 
the act of severing the crops from the soil, the thief converts 
real into personal property and, for carrying away this per- 
sonal property, he may be charged with larceny. 

MANURE 

Manure is usually considered real property and, in a 
transfer of a farm by deed or otherwise, is treated as a part 
of the farm. Manure produced on a leased farm is the 
property, not of the tenant, but of the farm owner. A 
tenant would not, therefore, be acting within his right if he 
sold the manure. One might easily imagine, however, a 
case where the tenant fed a large herd of stock for market 
with feed that was purchased and not raised on the farm 
occupied by the tenant, that is, where the farm could not 
produce enough feed for so much stock. In such a case one 
would be correct in assuming that to the tenant would 
belong the additional manure. 

LEVY UPON GRAIN 

A levy may be made upon growing grain or grass, but no 
sale shall be made under such a levy until the grain or grass 
is ripe or fit to be harvested. But provisions for the 
debtor and his family for one year, either provided or grow- 



FARM PRODUCTS 35 

ing, and necessary seed for actual personal use for one season 
not to exceed one hundred bushels each of wheat, barley, 
potatoes, and oats, and ten bushels of corn may not be taken 
by the owner's creditors. 

DAMAGE TO CROPS 

A farmer may recover the value of crops damaged or 
destroyed by the neglect of another person. If this damage 
is due to the servant or agent of that other person or of a cor- 
poration, it is just as if the destruction had been caused by 
the employer. A common example of this is the burning 
of grain in the shock or stack caused by sparks from a rail- 
road engine. By statute in Minnesota, the fact that the 
fire was so scattered is considered prima facie evidence of 
neglect. 

SEED GRAIN CONTRACTS 

Crops are often subject to a chattel mortgage given 
when the seed grain is purchased. To secure the loan or 
purchase of seed grain, where the farmer has not the ready 
money to pay for the same, it is rather common for the buyer 
to give the lender or seller a note of contract that contains a 
statement of the amount and kind of seed and the other 
terms of the agreement. The instrument is then filed with 
the register of deeds of the county in which the crop to 
be grown is located, as in the case of any chattel mortgage. 
The mortgagee then has a legal claim upon the crop grown 
from the seed according to the terms of the agreement. 
This lien extends through one year from the date of filing 
the contract and precedes all other liens upon the crop. 

THRESHER'S LIEN 

Any person owning and operating a threshing machine 
has a lien upon grain threshed for the price of the work of 



36 FARMERS' LAW 

threshing it. Such a legal claim precedes all other liens 
except for the seed from which the grain was grown. In 
order to have such a lien, the thresher should file with the 
town clerk a sworn statement of the amount and kinds of 
grain threshed and the date of the work with the rate per 
bushel, total charge, amounts paid thereon, if any, and the 
balance due, as well as the name of the owner and the person 
who requested the work to be done. This filing must be 
done within ten days after the threshing is completed. An 
action to foreclose the lien must be begun within six months 
of the date of the filing. As much grain is seized as will pay 
the amount of the claim and cost of seizure and sale. 

DAIRY PRODUCTS 

Persons selling milk or cream in any village or city, 
except for the purpose of supplying a butter or cheese fac- 
tory, must secure a license from the State Dairy and Food 
Commissioner. The license fee is one dollar for each vehicle 
or place from which the sale of milk or cream is made. 
These licenses expire May 1. But persons keeping not more 
than three cows and selling no milk or cream except from 
those three cows need not secure a license. 

No preservatives like borax, boric acid, salicylic acid, or 
formaldehyde may be used in milk, butter, or cheese. The 
fine for each offense of this kind is not less than $15 and not 
more than $25. 

No person is permitted to sell unwholesome or adulter- 
ated milk or cream. Within the meaning of the law un- 
wholesome or adulterated milk is such as has been drawn 
from cows kept in filthy or unsanitary places, or from 
unclean or diseased cows, or from cows fed upon garbage or 
decayed substances in any form. Cream taken from milk 
of this kind is considered unwholesome or adulterated. 



FARM PRODUCTS 37 

Furthermore, milk containing more than 87 per cent of 
water, or less than 3% per cent of butterfat, and cream 
containing less than 20 per cent of butterfat are considered 
adulterated. 

Statute provides that milk and cream purchased for 
manufacturing butter or cheese must be paid for by 
weight and upon the basis of its content of butterfat. The 
Babcock test must be used for finding the per cent of butter- 
fat. 

UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION IN PRICES PAID 
FOR DAIRY PRODUCTS 

Persons or firms engaged in the business of buying milk, 
cream or butterfat for the purpose of manufacture are for- 
bidden to pay higher prices in one locality than another. 
Of course, in comparing prices that may come under the 
application of this law, due allowance must be made for any 
real differences in the cost of carrying from the place of 
purchase to the place of manufacture. The penalty for 
breaking the law is a fine of not more than $500 or impris- 
onment in the county jail for not more than six months. 

THE "65 MILE" LAW 

A recent piece of legislation is the "65 mile" law, which 
forbids the shipment of cream for a distance of more than 65 
miles unless the shipment is made in a refrigerator car or 
unless the cream has been effectively pasteurized. For 
offences under this law agents and railroad companies are 
made punishable by fines of from $15 to $75. 



CHAPTER VIII 

NURSERY STOCK 

INSPECTION OF NURSERY STOCK 

A much-needed law on inspection of nursery stock was 
passed by the State Legislature at its 1913 session. This 
law makes the state entomologist also the state inspector of 
nurseries and gives him free access to all fields, packing 
grounds, buildings, cellars, and other places in order to 
carry out its provisions. Under this act all nursery men 
and all others having nursery stock in charge are required 
to make application for inspection on or before May 1 of 
each year. The inspection is done between May 1 and 
September 30. Certificates are issued to all nurseries where 
the stock is found free from injurious insects or contagious 
diseases. A fee of five dollars must be paid by the appli- 
cant before the certificate is issued. 

INFESTED NURSERY STOCK 

Should the inspector, in carrying out the duties of his 
office, find a dangerous insect pest or plant disease, he may 
inform the owner in writing by what means it can be eradi- 
cated. Should he find the stock so badly infested that 
treatment will not be effective, he may order the owner to 
destroy the stock. If his orders are not obeyed, the state 
inspector shall order the work done and if the costs of the 
work are not paid within sixty days, they may be collected 
by the county attorney in civil action. 



NURSERY STOCK 39 

SHIPMENT WITHIN THE STATE 

All shipments of nursery stock from any point in the 
state to other points within the state must be accompanied 
by certificates of inspection on each package. Railroad and 
express companies are forbidden to take stock for shipment 
that is not so tagged. 

NURSERY STOCK FROM OUTSIDE THE STATE 

All nursery stock brought into the state must be accom- 
panied by a certificate from the inspector or other proper 
official of the state from which it comes. The certificate 
must state that the stock is free from pests and diseases. 
Certificates of firms in other states must be on file with the 
Minnesota inspector before such firms are permitted to ship 
into the state for distribution or sale. Foreign grown 
stock imported into Minnesota under the Federal quaran- 
tine law is to be inspected at the point of its destination. 
Such stock may not be opened unless the inspector is pres- 
ent. He is to be notified at least forty-eight hours in 
advance of the opening of the package so that he may be 
present. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SEED LAW 

THE LAW IN GENERAL 

During its 1913 session the State Legislature passed an 
"Agricultural Seed Law" which promises to be of great 
importance and value to farmers. This law makes for com- 
pulsory labeling, free testing, and state inspection of seed. 
It provides, also, what many otherwise good laws fail to do, 
for its own enforcement and for penalties for its violation. 

WHAT SEED THE LAW INCLUDES 

The law is intended to include "red clover, white clover, 
alsike clover, alfalfa, Kentucky bluegrass, timothy, brome 
grass, orchard grass, redtop, meadow fescue, oat grass, rye 
grass and other grasses and forage plants, corn, flax, rape, 
wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat and other cereals," 
and these only when they are "sold or offered or exposed for 
sale, or had in possession with intent to sell within the 
state for purposes of seeding." 

LABELING 

If the above seeds are in lots of one pound or more, they 
must be labeled. According to the statute the label must 
be in writing or in printing which must be as large at least 
as "EIGHT POINT HEAVY GOTHIC CAPITALS." The 
writing or printing must be in English . The label must give : 

(1) The commonly used name of the seed. If a variety 
name is used, it must be the correct one. 



THE SEED LAW 41 

(2) The percentage of germination of the seed, that is, 
the percentage of the seed that will start to grow. As differ- 
ent samples of the same seed do not germinate with exactly 
the same percentage, only the approximate percentage needs 
to be on the label. The date of the test for germination 
must also be given. 

(3) The percentage by weight of the seed of quack 
grass, Canada thistle, perennial sow thistle, and dodder, if 
any, contained in the seed. The percentage here also needs 
only to be approximate. 

(4) The approximate percentage by weight of pure 
seed. 

(5) The place where the seed was grown. If it was 
grown in the state, the label should contain the words 
"grown in Minnesota," except that the label for corn should 
contain the name of the county where grown. If the seed 
is brought in from outside the state, the label should tell 
from what state or country. 

(6) The full name and address of the person selling or 
offering the seed for sale. 

EXCEPTIONS AS TO LABELING 

Persons selling seed that is to be cleaned before it is 
offered for sale for use as seed are excused from attaching 
a label as above described if they have marked on the out- 
side of the container "not cleaned seed." Also, if such seed 
is to be shipped outside the state, it needs only to be marked 
"not cleaned." Lawn grass mixtures are excepted from 
the parts of the label given under (1) and (5) above. 

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING THE LAW 

Those who violate any of the provisions of the law are 
guilty of a misdemeanor and when convicted will be fined 



42 FARMERS' LAW 

for the first offense not less than $10 and costs nor more 
than $100 and costs. For a second or later offense the 
penalty is not less than $100 and costs nor more than $500 
and costs. 

TESTING AND INSPECTING SEED 

The Agricultural Experiment Station at St. Anthony 
Park has full charge of inspecting, examining, and testing 
seeds sold or offered for sale in the state. For this work 
the Station or its agents are given free access to the seed 
at all reasonable hours whether on the premises or elsewhere. 
To make proper tests these agents may take samples of 
seeds by offering payment for them. 

Any citizen of Minnesota may have samples of seed 
tested and analyzed free of charge by sending them to the 
Agricultural Experiment Station at St. Anthony Park and 
paying transportation charges. The authorities at the Sta- 
tion have made some rules for the regulation of testing and 
analyzing work which all senders will do well to follow. 
The most important are here given: 

(1) Samples should be sent by mail. 

(2) State whether purity or germination test or both 
are wanted. 

(3) Samples of small seeds, such as grasses, should 
weigh from one to two ounces. 

(4) Samples of large seed, such as grains, should weigh 
from two to four ounces. 

(5) With every sample should be included the follow- 
ing: 

(a) Name and address of the sender. 

(b) A number on each package when more than 
one sample is sent. 



THE SEED LAW 43 

(c) If the seed is home grown it should be so 
stated. 

(d) If the seed was purchased, the name of the 
person of firm from whom purchased. 

(6) The reports of the tests are for private information 
and can not be used for advertising purposes. 



CHAPTER X 

WEEDS 

Under the Laws of Minnesota each of the following 
plants has been declared noxious and a common nuisance : 
(1) wild mustard, (2) wild oats, (3) cocklebur, (4) burdock, 
(5) tumble mustard, (6) Canada thistle, (7) oxeye daisy, (8) 
quack grass, (9) French weed, (10) Russian thistle. Per- 
sons owning, occupying, or controlling land are forbidden 
to permit the first eight plants in this list to go to seed on 
that land. Furthermore, Canada thistle, oxeye daisy, and 
quack grass may not for two successive years be allowed to 
reproduce themselves by crowns, underground stems, or 
buds. French weed is to be prevented from producing 
seed for more than four successive years and Russian thistle 
must be kept from growing at all. In addition, any owner, 
occupant, or person controlling lands is forbidden to permit 
these weeds and a list of others, including white daisy, snap 
dragon or toad flax, sow thistle, sour dock, yellow dock, or 
other weeds or grasses, to grow on the half of the highway 
abutting on those lands. 

The method of enforcing this law is provided as follows : 
Upon written complaint to the chairman of the town board 
he must at once inspect the premises complained of. If he 
finds the complaint well-founded, he has written notice 
served upon the person permitting the weeds to grow, 
directing him to carry out the requirements of the law 
within sixty days. If the notice* is not obeyed within this 
time, the overseer of the roads must immediately destroy 



WEEDS 45 

the weeds, make report of the work to the town clerk, with 
an itemized account of his services in so doing. The 
account shall include two dollars per day for the time of 
his necessary employment. Wages for men and teams to 
do the work may be allowed at the rates paid for labor upon 
roads. The town is to pay the bill from its road funds, 
and, if the sum is not paid by the owner or occupant before 
October 1, the county auditor, upon notice of the town 
clerk, extends the same upon the tax list as an additional 
tax upon the land. Where noxious weeds are so mixed 
with the growing crop that the weeds can not be eradicated 
without serious damage to the crop, a written agreement 
may be made with the chairman of the town board by the 
owner or occupant to destroy the weeds in specified parts of 
the land and to properly treat the remainder when the crop 
has matured. 

Every person or officer failing to carry out the provi- 
sions of this statute on weeds as these provisions bear upon 
him is guilty of a misdemeanor. 



CHAPTER XI 

FARM ANIMALS 

ESTRAYS 

Legally, an estray is an animal found wandering free 
from the care of its owner, who is not known. An animal 
which has escaped for a brief time only and wandered but a 
short distance and the owner of which is known can not be 
considered an estray. No person in Minnesota may take 
up an estray, except a horse or mule, unless he finds the 
animal upon lands owned or occupied by himself and in the 
town where he lives. The owner of an estray must pay all 
reasonable charges for care and feed where, in his search, he 
finds the person who has taken up the animal. If the 
owner of an estray that exceeds five dollars in value remains 
unknown, the finder is required to give four weeks' published 
notice of the estray. The notice must contain a brief 
description of the animal, name and residence of the finder, 
and the time and place of taking up. If the value is less 
than five dollars, the finder is required to give posted notice 
only. Where the estray is less than ten dollars in value and 
if no claimant causes its return to him, the finder becomes the 
owner without further procedure ; but where the value is ten 
dollars or more the animal is to be appraised by a justice of 
the peace. In this case, if no one makes claim or pays all 
reasonable costs, the justice, at the request of the finder, 
orders any constable in the county to sell the animal at pub- 
lic auction. After deducting all reasonable charges the 
officer must deposit the remainder of the money with the 



FARM ANIMALS 47 

county treasurer. If money deposited is not claimed 
within one year, it is paid over to the public school fund. 

DISTRAINING 

Whenever an owner or occupant of lands finds any 
beasts doing damage thereon, before returning the animals 
to their owner or keeper and until damages are fixed, he 
may keep such animals on his premises or in the public 
pound. Any person so distraining must give notice to the 
owner and apply to a justice of the peace to fix the amount 
of damages. Any time before this appraisal has been made 
or action is brought to recover the damages caused by ani- 
mals, the owner may offer the distrainer the amount he 
claims in damages. If the amount of damages fixed by 
the appraiser is not paid within twenty-four hours, the ani- 
mals are to be placed in the public pound by the pound- 
master and sold at public auction after three days' posted 
notice. If there is no public pound the sheriff or any 
constable shall sell the beasts. The purchaser of any such 
animals sold for damages must keep them at least two 
months, during which time the owner may redeem them 
by paying all costs of keeping and the amount paid for 
them at the sale with interest at twelve per cent per year. 

LIABILITY OF RAILROADS 

Every railroad company is required to build and keep 
upon each side of all roads owned and operated by it ' 'good 
and substantial fences," except at station and depot grounds 
and other places which the business of the road or public 
convenience requires to be open. Where a company does 
not meet this requirement, it is liable for all domestic ani- 
mals killed or injured by this negligence. 



48 FARMERS' LAW 

DAMAGE CAUSED BY ANIMALS 

When horses run away after being left loose or unat- 
tended in a public road or street the owner must pay for all 
damages they cause in running away, as his failure to 
secure the animals or attend them is considered negligence 
in him. But if a horse, against all that a driver can do, 
while being driven along a public road, works damage by 
running off the road into adjoining property, the owner of 
the horse need not make good the loss caused by this act. 
Generally, owners are liable for damage caused by their 
livestock in trespassing upon fenced lands, but such an 
owner is not liable where the lands are not inclosed, unless 
he knowingly drives the animals upon the open land of 
some other person. 

DISEASED ANIMALS 

Persons owning or having control of horses afflicted 
with glanders may not permit such animals to run at large 
or be driven upon any highway. They are not permitted 
to dispose of such animals in any way to any other person. 
It is a gross misdemeanor to import or drive into the state, 
turn out or suffer to run at large upon highways or lands 
not enclosed, or to dispose of to others any sheep known to 
be infected with any contagious disease. The carcasses 
of all domestic animals known to have died of any disease 
must be buried at least three feet in the ground or be 
burned. Such carcasses must not be sold. No animal 
thus diseased may be permitted to run at large. 

The state laws provide for a Live Stock Sanitary Board 
of five members, which works with the local boards of 
health to protect the health of domestic animals of the 
state. This board, as well as the local board of health, 
which is, in the town, the board of supervisors, has authority 



FARM ANIMALS 49 

to quarantine or kill any animal infected with or exposed to 
any dangerous or infectious disease. Any person who 
knows or has reason to suspect that such a disease exists in 
any domestic animal must immediately notify the town 
board, who will notify the state board. 

There is no law in the state compelling the tuberculin 
testing of cows, although in the minds of many such a law 
is much to be desired. But some cities have passed ordi- 
nances requiring all those who sell milk within the city 
limits to have their cows so tested. 

After the Live Stock Sanitary Board knows that an 
animal is infected with tuberculosis or glanders it may 
order such animal shipped for killing at any of the slaughter- 
houses in the state where there is Federal inspection. These 
slaughter houses are at South St. Paul, Albert Lea, Man- 
kato, and Fergus Falls. Before being taken from the prem- 
ises of the owner the animal is appraised by three disinter- 
ested men. The appraisal is limited to sixty dollars for a 
cow and one hundred twenty-five dollars for a horse as 
maximum amounts, except in case of pure-bred stock, when 
the highest appraisal that may be made is one hundred fifty 
dollars. The cost of shipping is paid by the Live Stock 
Sanitary Board. If after slaughter the animals are found 
to be free from any contagious or infectious disease, the full 
amount of appraisal, less the value of the carcass, shall be 
paid to the owner by the state. If they are found to be 
afflicted with glanders or tuberculosis, the value of the car- 
cass will be taken from the appraised value and three- 
fourths of the remainder will be paid to the owner. 

ANIMALS BROUGHT INTO THE STATE 

For all domestic animals brought into the state for work, 
feeding, breeding, or dairy purposes, a certificate of health 



50 FARMERS' LAW 

must be filed with the Live Stock Sanitary Board. In the 
case of cattle over six months of age brought into the state 
for breeding or dairy purposes, the absence of tuberculosis 
must have been determined by the tuberculin test within 
thirty days preceding the date of their importation. 

HOG CHOLERA SERUM 

A 1913 statute declares the hog cholera serum plant at 
the College of Agriculture the hog cholera serum plant of 
the State of Minnesota, and provides that the serum there 
made be sold to any hog owner in the state at one-third of 
one cent per cubic centimeter and express charges. It 
further states that if the state plant can not supply the 
demand by its own manufacture, to do so it may purchase 
the serum in the open market. The law requires that this 
serum be used only by veterinarians. 

LIEN OF AGISTERS 

One who for pay takes cattle, horses, or other domestic 
animals to pasture on his land is known in law as an agister. 
Besides furnishing the pasturage, an agister is generally 
liable for negligence and must be ordinarily careful in pro- 
tecting the animals in his charge. The Minnesota Statute 
gives the agister a lien upon the animals for pasturing them, 
although the lien does not exist after he voluntarily gives 
up the animals before payment. 

LIEN FOR SHOEING 

Shoers have a lien upon a horse or other animals which 
they have shod. To have such a lien the shoer, within six 
months of the date the work was done, must file with the 
town clerk, village recorder, or city clerk a statement made 
under oath and a notice of his intention to claim a lien 



FARM ANIMALS 51 

upon the animal for his charges for shoeing same. The fee 
for filing is twenty-five cents. Within six months of the 
filing he commences suit for recovery of the charges for 
shoeing. Summons, judgment, and execution follow as in 
other civil actions of this nature. 

LIEN FOR SERVICE OF STALLION, ETC. 

The owner of a stallion, jack, bull, ram, or boar kept for 
public service has a lien upon the young of the animal for 
the value of the service. To keep the lien the owner must 
file with the clerk of the town where the female is kept and 
within six months of the date of the service a sworn state- 
ment containing a description of the female, the time and 
place of service, and the amount due for it. The lien is 
foreclosed by advertisement and sale as described under the 
head of chattel mortgages. 

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS 

Minnesota Statute makes it a misdemeanor for any per- 
son to — 

(1) "overdrive, overload, torture, cruelly beat, neg- 
lect, unjustifiably maim, mutilate, or kill any 
animal or cruelly work same when unfit for labor, 
whether belonging to himself or another; 

(2) "deprive of necessary food, water, or shelter any 
animal of which he has charge or control ; 

(3) "keep cows or other animals in any enclosure with- 
out wholesome exercise and change of air; 

(4) "feed cows on food which produces impure or un- 
wholesome milk; 

(5) "abandon any maimed, sick, infirm, or disabled 
animal to die in any public place ; 

(6) "allow any such animal to lie in the street, road, or 
other public place for more than three hours after 
notice." 



52 FARMERS' LAW 

Cutting the bony part of a horse's tail for the purpose of 
docking it is punishable by fine and imprisonment. Per- 
mitting any clipped animal to stand unblanketed in any 
unsheltered place between November 1 and May 1 and 
within sixty days after such clipping, is made a misdemeanor. 
Poisoning or trying to poison any animal either one's own 
or the property of another may be punished by fine or im- 
prisonment or both. A sheriff, constable, village marshal, 
police officer, or any officer of any society for the prevention 
of cruelty may remove and care for any horse or other ani- 
mal found exposed or remaining more than an hour without 
attention in bad weather, or not properly fed and watered. 
When necessary the officer may deliver the animal to 
another person to be properly cared for, notifying the owner, 
if known, at once of what is done. The officer or the person 
in possession will have a lien upon the animal for its care 
and the reasonable value of its food and drink. 

DOGS 

Dogs are considered personal property. The owner or 
keeper of any dog which kills, wounds, or worries any 
domestic animal is liable to the owner of the animal for its 
value, and any person who keeps or harbors such a dog, after 
having received notice of the fact of its acts, is required to 
pay a fine of five dollars for each day he permits such a dog 
to remain on his premises. Any person may kill without 
notice to the owner a dog which he finds worrying or injur- 
ing sheep, and a sheep owner may kill any dog found on the 
premises where he keeps sheep, if the dog is not under the 
control of its owner or some other person. A dog that 
habitually worries, chases, or molests teams or persons travel- 
ing peaceably on a public road is a public nuisance. Such 
a dog may not be killed except as follows: complaint is 



FARM ANIMALS 53 

made in writing to a justice of the peace who summons 
the owner or keeper of the dog to a hearing. If, after the 
evidence, the justice finds that such a dog is a public nui- 
sance, he orders the constable to kill and bury the dog. 



CHAPTER XII 

FARM BOUNDARIES, ROADS ABUT- 
TING ON THE FARM, LINE 
AND LEGAL FENCES 

BOUNDARY DISPUTES 

Questions and disputes as to farm boundaries or lines 
between farms are constantly arising and are a very frequent 
cause of ill-feeling between neighbors. Much of this ill- 
feeling grows out of ignorance of the correct location of the 
boundary line and a neglect of the means of learning what 
that correct location is. If there is a real or honest misun- 
derstanding, both parties should be willing to leave the 
establishment of the line to a competent surveyor. Ac- 
cording to statute any person owning land or having an 
interest in it may bring an action in the district court 
against the owner or persons interested in adjoining lands 
to have the boundary line established. The court will then 
by its judgment establish the boundary line. Under com- 
mon law, where both parties to the misunderstanding are 
uncertain as to the correct location of the line, a written 
agreement between them establishing the line will be valid. 
If the disputing owners come to an oral agreement and have 
actual possession according to the line agreed upon for some 
time after the agreement, such an oral agreement will stand. 
Occupation for fifteen years following an oral agreement 
will give title. 



FARM BOUNDARIES 55 

ROADS ABUTTING ON THE FARM 

The owner of a farm abutting on the highway has a right 
to all grass and trees growing on his half of the highway. A 
farmer has the right to plow, level, and seed to grass the part 
of the highway not actually used for public travel, except 
within one rod of the center of the road. But by such work 
he is not free to interfere with public travel. After he has 
obtained the written approval of the town board concerning 
a town road or of the county board concerning a county 
road, he may plant trees on the side of the road within six 
feet from the outside line. It is a misdemeanor for any 
person to plow or dig up any part of the road except as 
described in this paragraph. 

When an owner of property along a road at least sixty 
feet wide wishes to rear a hedge upon his property, to pro- 
tect the hedge while growing he may build a fence upon the 
road not more than six feet from the outside line, and he may 
keep the fence there for five years after the hedge is planted. 

The town board has been given the right to order when 
trees or hedges on roads shall be cut down. But other trees 
than willows can not be ordered cut down unless the center 
of each tree is more than six feet from the outside line of 
the road. Such trees may be cut down if they interfere 
with keeping the road in good order or if they cause the 
snow to drift in on the road enough to materially obstruct 
travel. When the town board orders such trees to be cut 
down the owner is allowed ninety days in which to do it. If 
he fails to cut them down within that time the town board 
has the power to order them cut down at town expense. 
The wood of the trees belongs to the owner if he pays the 
expense of cutting and removes them from the roadside 
within sixty days. Where they are not removed by the 



56 FARMERS' LAW 

owner they may be sold by the town board and the pro- 
ceeds go into the town road and bridge fund. 

Town boards are required to build one good culvert for 
the owner of abutting land when, on account of grading a 
road, a culvert is necessary for a suitable approach from the 
highway to the driveway leading from the abutting land. 

STREAMS AND LAKES AS BOUNDARIES 

If a stream forming the boundary of a farm is not navig- 
able, the title to the farm reaches to the middle of the 
stream. Islands between the middle of such a stream and 
the bank are a part of the farm. But the title to a farm 
bordering a navigable stream extends only to the highwater 
mark. Navigability in fact makes a stream navigable in 
law in Minnesota. All fresh water lakes but the larger 
navigable ones are covered by titles to their shores, and a 
title to one side of a pond will reach to the middle of the 
pond unless the deed expressly denies this. Any sudden 
change in the banks of a stream, through flood or other- 
wise, does not change the boundary line of farms bordering 
the stream. 

TREES ON OR NEAR BOUNDARY LINES 

Disputes often arise respecting trees on or near division 
lines of adjoining farms. Who is entitled to their fruits, 
or what may be done in case of damage wrought by such 
trees? Courts have usually ruled that neither adjoining 
owner possesses the right to destroy a tree located on the 
boundary line without the consent of the other owner. 
But there is no joint ownership where the trunk of a tree 
rises from the ground some feet from the boundary line, and 
no person has a right to fruit growing on branches which 
overhang his land and extend from trees growing on his 



LEGAL FENCES 57 

neighbor's land. If these branches are a nuisance to him 
he may remove them after having given notice to the tree 
owner. 

FIRES SPREADING TO A NEIGHBOR'S LAND 

It is a misdemeanor for any person who, having set on 
fire any woods, prairje, or other combustible material on his 
own land, negligently permits the fire to extend beyond the 
limits of his land, and he is liable for any damages resulting 
from such negligence. 

LEGAL FENCES 

In Minnesota the supervisors of the respective towns, 
aldermen of the cities, village trustees, and county commis- 
sioners in counties not divided into organized towns are the 
fence viewers. 

With us, fences must have the following characteristics 
in order to be recognized as legal : 

(a) Board fences. These must be at least 54 inches 
high and the boards must be fastened to posts not 
more than 9 feet apart. The distance from the 
ground to the bottom board must not be greater 
than 20 inches and the distances between the 
boards not more than 9 inches. 

(b) Fences of one smooth and two barbed wires. The 
wire must be firmly fastened to posts not more than 
33 feet apart with two stays between the posts. 
The barbed wire must have at least 40 barbs to the 
rod. The top wire is to be not more than 52 
nor less than 48 inches high, and the bottom wire 
is to be not less than 16 nor more than 20 inches 
from the ground. 



58 FARMERS' LAW 

(c) Fences of four smooth wires. Posts and stays and 
bottom wire as in (b) . The top wire should be not 
more than 54 nor less than 48 inches high. 

(d) All other fences consisting of rails, timbers, boards, 
stone walls, or any combination thereof, or of lakes, 
streams, ditches, or hedges, which are considered 
the equivalent of (a) , (b) , or (c) by the fence view- 
ers. 

LINE FENCES 

Partition or "line" fences, as long as both adjoining 
farmers continue to improve their lands, are to be main- 
tained in equal shares. If any person neglects to repair or 
rebuild his share of any line fence, his adjoining neighbor 
may complain to the fence viewers. After notice to the 
parties the viewers examine the fence and, if they decide 
that it is insufficient, they are to direct the delinquent 
neighbor to 'repair or rebuild within a certain time. If he 
still neglects his duty, the complainant may do the necessary 
work and recover double the expense of the work, together 
with the fees of the viewers. The complainant has access 
to the courts for recovery. In case a dispute arises as to 
the rights of adjoining owners to line fences, either party 
may apply for settlement to the fence viewers, who shall 
assign to each his share in such fence, fixing the time by 
which it is to be erected or repaired. Failure to comply 
with the assignments of the viewers is dealt with as in the 
case of complaint. Where the boundary between two 
farms is a stream not of itself a sufficient fence and it is not 
practicable to place a fence in the middle of the channel 
where the true boundary is located and the occupants can 
not agree as to where the fence shall go, either party may 
apply to the viewers for settlement. Any person serving 



LINE FENCES 59 

six months' written notice upon an adjoining owner of his 
determination not to improve his lands need not thereafter 
keep up his share of the fence during the time his lands are 
open and unimproved, and he may even remove his share 
unless the adjoining owner pays him for it. 



CHAPTER XIII 

WATERS OF THE FARM 

RIPARIAN RIGHTS 

The term "riparian" has its source in the Latin word 
"ripa," meaning the bank or shore of a river. Riparian 
rights, then, are rights which come with the possession of 
land under or along a stream, — under, in the case where, 
as we learned in the chapter on farm boundaries, the farm 
borders on a stream not navigable ; along, when the stream 
is navigable. 

Standing water is the property of the owner of the soil, 
to be used and enjoyed largely as he chooses. Where a 
man owns both banks of a stream not navigable he has title 
to the full breadth of the bed of the stream and has right to 
the use of its waters, while a man owning only one bank of 
such a stream has the same use of the waters for his half of 
the stream only. This right includes its use for agricultural 
and domestic purposes, or for power. In this use he may 
not interfere with the similar rights of others below him on 
the stream. He may use the stream in any reasonable 
manner, such as permitting his cattle to run in a pasture 
bordering the stream, even though the stock makes foul 
the stream and causes it to be unfit to drink. But he is 
forbidden to throw offal or carcasses of dead animals into 
the stream or in any way to pollute the water of the stream. 
An upper owner along an unnavigable stream may even 
draw from running water if he does not unreasonably cut 
down the flow of the stream. An owner of land along a 



WATERS OF THE FARM 61 

stream of this kind may not completely block it up or turn 
it aside without the consent of lower owners, though he may 
dam the stream for power without their consent. 

While an unnavigable stream is a private way, a navi- 
gable stream is a public highway ; and even though a farmer 
owns land on both sides, he is not permitted to obstruct 
the stream by fence or otherwise. 

The rights to ice on a stream are similar to the rights to 
the use of the water: if the stream is unnavigable, the ice 
is the property of the owner of the land bordering on and 
under the stream; if navigable, the right to cut and take 
away ice belongs to everyone. Ice in navigable streams 
can not be justly claimed by anyone, however, until it is 
ready for harvest. 

SURFACE WATERS 

Under common law the owner of a tract of land adjoin- 
ing a lower tract may permit, without being liable for 
damages, the surface waters from his land to drain upon the 
lower land. With the owner of the lower tract rests the 
right to pass it on. However, the upper owner is liable 
for damages if neglect or intent to damage his neighbor's 
property can be proved, or if he opens new channels where 
the surface waters would not naturally flow. A lower 
owner is liable for damages where surface waters are 
dammed so as to back up on the land of an upper owner 
and thus injure it. 

TOWN, COUNTY, JUDICIAL, AND STATE DITCHES 

To make possible the drainage of small and large areas 
of land by means of open or tile ditches or otherwise, the 
Legislature has provided for what are known as town, coun- 
ty, judicial, and state ditches. The first three are so named 



62 FARMERS' LAW 

because the town board, the county commissioners, and the 
district judge, respectively, are the authorities who have 
the control of the establishment of such ditches; while the 
state ditches are so named because the proceedings for 
establishment begin with the State Drainage Commission, 
made up of the Governor, the State Auditor, and the 
Secretary of State. Local drainage has been largely secured 
through the county ditch proceedings, whether the area 
drained has been that of a single farm or a number of sec- 
tions or townships. For this reason the steps of the county 
method will be very briefly set forth. If the student wishes 
to make a study of the processes in full he should have 
access to the statutes. 

COUNTY DITCHES 

(1) One or more landowners whose lands are liable to 
be affected may file a petition with the county 
auditor for the construction of a ditch, drain or 
water course. In filing such a petition one or 
more of such petitioners must give a bond to the 
county pledging to pay all the expense in case the 
county board establishes the ditch. 

(2) The auditor gives three weeks' published and 
posted notice of the filing of the petition. He also 
sends copies of the petition to owners of land near 
the proposed ditch. 

(3) The county board orders an accurate survey of 
the entire line of the ditch to be made by a com- 
petent engineer. This engineer is required to 
make a complete report of his doings and to sub- 
mit to the county board the necessary plans. 

(4) Three viewers are appointed by the board to go 
over the territory affected by the proposed ditch 



WATERS OF THE FARM 63 

and to make estimates of all benefits to be derived 
from it and all damages suffered through its es- 
tablishment by all tracts in this territory. 
(5) The county board has a meeting at which the 
engineer's and viewers' reports and all persons 
interested are given a hearing. If the board de- 
cides that the estimated benefits will be greater 
than the total cost, including damages awarded, 
they shall establish the ditch. 

It will be seen that the above method may be followed 
where a single farmer wishes to drain his land by a tile 
drain, open ditch, or other watercourse which runs through 
or under other lands than his own, or that it may be used 
by a group of any number of farmers. 



CHAPTER XIV 

ROADS--THEIR ESTABLISHMENT 

AND MAINTENANCE 

Almost the whole of the Minnesota law governing roads, 
road establishment, road changing, road improvement, and 
road upkeep is contained in the "Good Roads Act" included 
in Chapter 235 of the Laws of the 1913 session of the State 
Legislature. The more important features of the statute 
are here stated in condensed form. 

KINDS OF ROADS 

According to this statute there are three classes of 
roads, — state, county, and town roads. For each of these 
chere is a different method of establishment, alteration, 
improvement, vacation, and upkeep. The four authorities 
having immediate control of road administration are the 
State Highway Commission, the district court, the board 
of county commissioners, and the town board. 

The word road is understood to include bridges on the 
road. 

STATE ROADS 

These are the steps in designating a state road: — (1) 
The county board by resolution names any established road 
as a state road. (2) The county auditor sends a copy of 
the resolution to the State Highway Commission with a 
description of the road. (3) After determining that there 
are sufficient funds and that the road should be named as 



ROADS 65 

a state road, the State Highway Commission consents to 
the designation. Whenever it is made known to the High- 
way Commission that the county commissioners have 
refused to grant a petition made for application for the 
naming of a state road where the petition has been signed 
by ten freeholders, the Highway Commission may give 
such application new consideration. If, after such con- 
sideration, it acts favorably upon the petition, a copy of 
the written order granting the application is filed with the 
county auditor. 
SURVEYS, PLANS, AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR STATE ROADS 

After a state road has been designated, the state engineer 
causes surveys to be made, grades to be established, and 
plans and specifications to be made. This is done by one 
of the assistant engineers in the employ of the Highway 
Commission. Then the work of road building or improve- 
ment is done. Where it is estimated that the cost of the 
work to be done will not exceed five hundred dollars, the 
work may be ordered done under contracts let to the lowest 
responsible bidder or by day labor without first submitting 
the plans to the Highway Commission. But where the 
estimated cost exceeds five hundred dollars, the plans must 
go to the Commission for approval before the work is begun. 
The work is all done under the supervision of an assistant 
engineer who must act under the rules of the Highway Com- 
mission and the instruction of the state engineer. 

State roads must be maintained according to the rules 
of the State Highway Commission. 

STATE AID FOR STATE ROADS 

Counties and towns receive aid for building or main- 
taining state roads. The source of this aid is the State 
Road and Bridge Fund. This fund has its source in the 



66 FARMERS' LAW 

income from investments of the state internal improvements 
land fund and in a state tax of one mill. This fund is 
apportioned by the State Highway Commission. Not less 
than one per cent nor more than three per cent of the fund 
may be apportioned to any one county in any year. It is 
apportioned on or before the first Tuesday in March of 
each year. When a county does not use its allotment it 
goes back to the unapportioned road and bridge fund. 

Twenty per cent of the allotment to the county must 
be used only for the upkeep of state roads and bridges on 
those roads. Not more than twenty-five per cent of the 
allotment for the county may be spent upon county roads 
under the rules and regulations of the State Highway 
Commission. The remainder of the allotment may go as 
aid for the building of state roads. The proportion of the 
cost of any state road or state aided county road that may 
be paid out of the allotment is regulated by the total 
assessed valuation (exclusive of assessed valuation of 
moneys and credits) of the county. In counties with less 
than five million dollars of assessed valuation this propor- 
tion is eighty per cent; five million and less than ten mil- 
lion, seventy per cent; ten million and less than fifteen, 
sixty per cent; all other counties, fifty per cent. 

HOW THE AID IS PAID 

After the work on a road for which state aid is claimed 
is completed, the county auditor makes a statement to the 
Highway Commission and sends with it the report of the 
assistant engineer in charge. The Highway Commission, 
after examining the reports and finding them satisfactory, 
instructs the state auditor to issue a warrant for the state's 
share of the cost. In no case may this warrant be larger 
than the amount allotted to the county as stated above. 



ROADS 67 

THE TOWN BOARD AND STATE ROADS 

The town board may appropriate money from the town 
road and bridge fund to assist in paying for the construc- 
tion and improvement of any road in the town which has 
been named as a state road. 

COUNTY ROADS 

County boards have general control of county roads. 
This control extends over establishing, building, altering, 
improving, and vacating such roads. The board also has 
power to provide by an annual tax levy made at its July 
meeting a road and bridge fund, but this levy may not 
exceed three mills. Appropriations may be made from the 
fund for work on roads and bridges in any town, village, 
or city with less than ten thousand population in the county. 

ESTABLISHING, ALTERING, OR VACATING ROADS IN MORE 

THAN ONE TOWN 

To establish, alter, or vacate any road or roads connect- 
ing with each other and running into more than one town 
or on a line between two or more towns in the same county 
(1) twenty-four freeholders petition the county board for 
such action. (2) The petition is filed with the county 
auditor, (3) who brings the same to the attention of the 
county board. (4) If the petition appears reasonable on 
its face the board orders a hearing and appoints from its 
members a committee to examine the road. It also pro- 
vides for a meeting of the committee. Notice of the time 
and place of the meeting must be posted in each town into 
which the road question runs twenty days before the date 
of the meeting. Similar notice of the hearing must be 
posted at least thirty days before it takes place. Such 
notices are required to set forth a copy of the petition. 



68 FARMERS' LAW 

(5) The committee on the date set examines the route of 
the road in question and (6) reports to the board at its 
next meeting and recommends the granting or rejecting 
of the petition. (7) At the hearing the county board 
hears all parties interested and fixes the amount of damages 
that will be sustained by the owners through whose lands 
the road may run in cases where the owners and the county 
board can not agree as to the amount. In fixing the dam- 
ages sustained by the owner the board also decides the 
money value of the benefits of the establishment, altera- 
tion, or vacation and, after deducting this sum from the 
damages, awards the differences as damages. All damages 
are paid by the county. (8) If the establishment, altera- 
tion, or vacation seems desirable the board grants the peti- 
tion and (9) provides for the carrying out of the action for 
which the petition was made. 

ISSUING BONDS FOR PERMANENT ROAD IMPROVEMENT 

The expense of making permanent improvement of con- 
siderable stretches of county roads, such as macadamizing 
or surfacing them with some hard material, is usually very 
great, — so great that it can not be done within the ordinary 
limits of taxation. Bonds must be issued to cover the 
cost of such extraordinary improvement. The issuing of 
bonds for such work is authorized by a majority of the voters 
of the county at a special or a general election. To bring the 
question of a bond issue for this purpose to a vote, fifty 
voters petition the county board for the improvement; the 
petition is filed with the county auditor; he lays it before 
the county board; and the board, after it has secured an 
estimate of the cost from the engineer of the State Highway 
Commission and has come to the conclusion that the im- 
provement is desirable, orders a special election to decide 



ROADS 69 

upon the bond issue. But a special election may not be 
ordered if a general election will be held within six months 
after the estimate of the state engineer is filed with the 
county auditor. 

ROADS IN TWO OR MORE COUNTIES OR ON COUNTY LINES 

Roads in two or more counties or on county lines are 
located, altered, or vacated through proceedings in the 
district court. Proceedings are started by a petition 
signed by twenty legal voters and tax-payers residing in 
those counties. If the road is in more than one judicial 
district, the petition may go to the judge of any district 
affected by the petition. Three weeks' published notice 
that the petition is to be presented must be made before 
the presentation. The judge then appoints three com- 
missioners who lay out, alter, or vacate the road as directed 
by him. If the court so directs, the commissioners appoint 
a surveyor and other necessary assistants to survey the 
road and to make plats of its location. The commissioners 
also fix the damages to be paid each landowner on whose 
lands the road may run. The court, after hearing the 
report of the commissioners, and any other persons inter- 
ested, may confirm or reject the report. If the road is 
ordered established or altered, all expenses must be paid by 
the owners of lands through or between which the road runs. 
The order is sent by the clerk of court to the auditors of all 
counties affected by it. Each auditor lays the order before 
his county board and they proceed to carry out their 
county's share of the work. 

TOWN BOARDS AND TOWN ROADS 

The general care of town roads is in the hands of the 
town board. Its power, like that of the county board, 



70 FARMERS' LAW 

extends to establishments, alteration, and vacation of 
roads. The board is authorized to A 'purchase machinery, 
implements, tools, stones, gravel, and other materials" 
needed for their construction and repair. It is required to 
prosecute any person damaging the public highways of the 
town. As far as funds are available the town board must 
have snow that makes the roads impassable removed from 
them. The county board has the care of all bridges in 
towns when these bridges have originally cost $1,000 or 
more. 

THE TOWN ROAD OVERSEER 

Each town is now one road district, and the town board 
is required to appoint a town road overseer, who must be 
a "competent road builder" and who has charge of the con- 
struction of all town roads and of the maintenance of all 
town and county roads in the town. But in counties with 
a population of 150,000 or over that have a county super- 
intendent of highways, the town overseer has no jurisdic- 
tion over county roads. Whenever any public road in the 
town becomes obstructed or unsafe from any cause, the 
overseer must immediately repair it. If the board approves, 
he may appoint one or more assistants to help him do his 
work. The pay of the overseer and of his assistants is fixed 
by the town board and must not be more than three dollars 
per day for the time actually spent in work. The overseer 
gives bond to the town for two hundred fifty dollars. No 
member of the town board may be road overseer or assistant 
overseer. 

ROAD TAXES IN TOWNS 

Road taxes in towns may no longer be "worked out" 
but must be paid in cash in the same manner as other taxes 



ROADS 71 

are paid. The amount of money to be raised in the town 
for road and bridge purposes is fixed by the voters at the 
annual town meeting. This tax cannot exceed fifteen mills. 
To meet an emergency, however, the town board may levy 
an additional five mills. 

THE DRAGGING FUND 

A tax of one mill will hereafter be extended on the tax 
lists by the county auditor on all taxable property in each 
town, and the proceeds of this tax will go to the town treas- 
urer and be known as the "dragging fund." In towns where 
the assessed valuation is $1,000,000 or more the amount of 
this tax shall not be more than $1,000. This fund is to be 
paid out only for drags and for dragging. The town 
board must contract for the dragging of the roads of the 
town, giving preference to main-traveled roads and mail 
routes. The contract price shall not exceed one dollar per 
mile for each mile dragged for each time the road is dragged 

TOWN ROADS— THEIR ESTABLISHMENT, ALTERATION 

AND VACATION 

Proceedings for establishing, altering, or vacating town 
roads are started by petition of not less than eight land- 
owning voters of the town who live within three miles of the 
road proposed to be established, altered, or vacated. If 
there is not that number of landowning voters in the town, 
a less number than eight signers will make a valid petition. 
The petition is filed with the town clerk, who at once presents 
it to the town board. The board, within thirty days, 
issues an order describing the road and the tracts of land 
through which it passes and fixes a time and place for a 
hearing and action upon that petition. Ten days' posted 
notice must be given of this hearing, and personal notice 



72 FARMERS' LAW 

must be served upon each occupant of the land affected by 
the petition at least ten days before the hearing. At the 
hearing the board examines the road named in the petition, 
hears all those interested, and grants or refuses the petition. 
Unless the owners release in writing all claims to damages, 
the board fixes, with the agreement of the owners, the 
amount of such damages, deducting the money value of all 
benefits which the change will bring about. If it grants the 
petition, within five days of the issue of the order the board 
must make its award of damages and file it, with all other 
papers connected with the road in question, with the town 
clerk. The clerk does not record this final order within a 
period of 30 days and, in case of an appeal from the 
order, until a decision is given on the appeal, and not then 
unless the order is confirmed. In case the board refuses, 
the decision is final for a year, unless it is appealed, and a 
petition for the same road can not be acted upon again 
within that time. 

ROADS ON TOWN LINES 
In a petition to a town board for establishment, altera- 
tion, or vacation of a road on a town line, the town board is 
to notify the town board of the adjoining town and they 
together shall determine the petition and proceed under 
the regulations provided for roads within the town. In 
building the road the two boards divide the length of the 
road in two parts as nearly equal in cost as possible and 
each town builds one of the parts. Where the boards can 
not agree as to which part each shall construct, the matter 
is to be decided by lot. 

ROADS IN NEW OR UNORGANIZED TOWNS 
In towns still unorganized or in which no public roads 
have been established, section lines are considered public 



ROADS 73 

roads without survey unless natural obstacles prevent. 
The section line roads, upon the order of the county board, 
are to be opened two rods on each side of the line. 

CARTWAYS 

A cartway is a road two rods wide. The proceedings 
for establishment are the same as for town roads except 
that the petition may be signed by as few as five voters, 
freeholders of the town. One-half of the damages to the 
land through which it passes must be paid by those whom 
it benefits. On the petition of the owner of a tract of land 
of not less than five acres to which he has no access except 
over the lands of others, the town board may establish a 
cartway not over two rods wide to connect that land with 
the public road. The amount of damages must be paid by 
the petitioner. 

DEDICATION OF LAND FOR ROADS 

Owners may give land for a road or cartway by applying 
in writing to the town board. The application goes to the 
town clerk who lays it before the board. The board, 
within ten days, may declare the land dedicated for the 
purpose named in the application. No damages can be 
assessed for lands so dedicated. 

EXTRAORDINARY IMPROVEMENT OF TOWN ROADS 

Whenever it seems advisable to macadamize any estab- 
lished highway in a town or in any way make a lasting 
improvement upon that highway at greater expense than 
can be made under ordinary methods, it may be done as 
follows: (1) Fifteen voters who are freeholders file a peti- 
tion with the town clerk asking for the improvement. (2) 
After the petition has been brought to the attention of the 



74 FARMERS' LAW 

town board, the board makes an estimate in writing of the 
expense of the improvement. (3) At the next annual 
meeting or, if so requested in the petition, at a special meet- 
ing, the voters of the town decide by a vote for or against 
the improvement. Sixty per cent of the vote is necessary 
to carry the proposition. Bonds of the town are then 
issued for the necessary amount, if that amount with other 
indebtedness of the town is not more than five per cent of 
the assessed valuation. 

DRAINAGE OF TOWN ROADS 
By proper procedure through the sworn statement of the 
town road overseer, posted notice of a hearing and the hold- 
ing of a hearing by the town board, assessment of benefits, 
order of the town board establishing a ditch, etc., town roads 
may be drained, if they run through swampy or other low 
land. It is the duty of the overseer to keep road ditches 
open, and to do so he may enter upon the lands through 
which they pass. Any person who dams up or in any way 
damages such a ditch is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable 
in civil action for double the damage assessed for the injury. 

APPEALS FROM COUNTY AND TOWN BOARDS 

Any person dissatisfied with the action or awards of a 
county or town board in establishing, altering, or vacating 
a road or refusing to do so may appeal to the district court 
within thirty days after the action is taken. The appeal 
can not be made without giving a bond for two hundred 
fifty dollars conditioned to pay all costs of the appeal. 

REMOVAL OF FENCES BY TOWN OR COUNTY BOARDS 

When a town or county board has located a road it gives 
each owner through whose lands the road will run twenty 
days' notice, in writing, to remove his fences. If he does 



ROADS 75 

not remove them within that time, the board orders them 
removed. But no closed field may be opened between 
April 1 and October 1. 

TUNNELS UNDER ROADS 

Owners of land on both sides of a public road may tunnel 
under the road to permit stock to pass from one side to the 
other. Permission to build the tunnel should first be 
obtained from the board. If, however, the tunnel has been 
built without this permission, it is valid, unless the board 
objects to it within a year. Bridges over tunnels should be 
at least sixteen feet wide and have proper railings. If the 
tunnel is not under a road on a section line or other sectional 
division line, but under some other road, the owner main- 
tains the tunnel at his own expense for the first year. There- 
after it will be maintained by the town board at the expense 
of the town. 

DEDICATION OF A ROAD BY USE 

Whenever a road has been used, repaired, and worked as 
a public highway for a continuous period of six years or 
more, it shall be considered dedicated to the public to the 
width of two rods on each side of its middle line. This does 
not apply to a road upon, and running parallel to, a railroad 
right of way. 

OLD ROADS OPEN TWO YEARS 

Whenever a road is changed by an order of a county or 
town board, the old road must be left open for two years 
from the date of the order, but such a road may be vacated 
within two years if the board considers the new road fit for 
travel at all times of the year. 



76 FARMERS' LAW 

BRIDGES AND CULVERTS 

All bridges and culverts and approaches to them which 
are hereafter established or improved must be at least six- 
teen feet wide. When the bridge is three feet or more above 
the bank on either side, the approaches must be eighteen 
feet wide and be provided with substantial railings. 

Before contracts can be let by any town or county board 
for the building of a bridge where the contract price is more 
than five hundred dollars, plans and specifications must be 
filed with the town clerk or the county auditor, as the case 
may be, and an advertisement for bids must be published 
in a newspaper once a week for three weeks before the time 
fixed for letting the contract. The advertisement must 
state the time and place of receiving bids and allowing con- 
tracts and must tell in what office the plans and specifica- 
tions are on file. 

It is the duty of the state engineer, as far as time will 
permit, yearly to inspect all bridges more than thirty feet in 
length and report their condition to the State Highway 
Commission and to the proper county board and make such 
recommendations as he deems advisable. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE USE OF ROADS 

MEETING AND PASSING ON ROADS 

When persons riding, driving or leading horses or other 
animals, or traveling with vehicles, meet on any public high- 
way, the Minnesota Statute requires each seasonably to 
drive to the right of the middle part of the road so that they 
may pass each other without interference. The same 
requirement is made of persons driving or operating motor 
vehicles. If the persons are moving in the same direction, 
the one overtaking is to pass on the left side of the middle of 
the traveled part of the road, and, if the road is wide enough 
to permit passing, the driver in the lead must not obstruct it, 
but turn to the right as soon as practicable so as to give half 
of the traveled road to the other. 

In a case where a person riding, leading, or driving a 
horse, or horses, or other draft animals signals by raising the 
hand or requests the driver of a motor vehicle, the latter 
must stop immediately and, if the animal or animals appear 
to be badly frightened, the motor driver shall stop his 
motor as long as is necessary to prevent accident. An 
operator of a motor vehicle, when meeting or overtaking 
any horse or other draft animal in charge of a woman, child, 
or aged person, must drive at no greater speed than four 
miles an hour and, where the animal shows fright or upon 
signal, must bring his machine to a stop and stop his motor 
as above described. The muffler of a motor vehicle must 
not be cut out at the time of passing a horse or other animal 
being led, driven, or ridden. 



78 FARMERS' LAW 

AT CORNERS OR CROSSROADS 

When drivers turn at corners where two highways cross, 
in turning to the right or left they are required to keep to 
the right of the point where the middle lines of the highways 
cross. When approaching a crossroad, an operator of a 
motor vehicle must slow down its speed and sound the bell, 
horn, or other device for signaling so as to give warning of 
his approach. There is a six mile per hour speed limit for 
going around corners or curves in the highway. 

WHO MAY NOT DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES 

Persons under sixteen years of age are forbidden to 
drive motor vehicles unless accompanied by a licensed 
chauffeur or the owner of the machine. The owner, in 
such a case, must be sixteen or over. Persons in an intoxi- 
cated condition are forbidden to drive motor vehicles. 

IN CASE OF ACCIDENT 

Any driver of a motor vehicle after knowingly causing 
an accident by collision or otherwise, injuring any person, 
horse, or vehicle, is guilty of a gross misdemeanor if he does 
not at once stop his machine, return to the scene of accident 
and, upon request, give his name, the number of his driver's 
license, the registration number of his machine, and the 
names and addresses of every male occupant of the machine. 

EQUIPMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES 

Every motor vehicle running upon the public highways 
of this state must be provided with brakes sufficient to con- 
trol the vehicle at all times, a suitable signaling device, such 
as a bell or horn, and, from one hour after sunset and to one 
hour before sunrise, must display two lighted lamps visible 
from the front and one on the rear of the vehicle. The lamp 



USE OF ROADS 79 

on the rear must display a red light visible from the rear, and 
white rays from this light must shine upon the number 
plate. 

INTEMPERATE DRIVERS 

Persons owning or having control of coaches or vehicles 
in which passengers are carried are forbidden to employ 
drivers who use intoxicating liquors to excess. Those who 
employ such drivers may be required to forfeit up to fifty 
dollars for each offense and be liable for all damages caused 
by the drivers. 

LEAVING HORSES UNFASTENED 

While passengers remain in any conveyance used for 
hire, drivers are forbidden to leave the horses that are har- 
nessed to the vehicle without first fastening those horses 
or leaving some competent person in charge of them. 

TRACTION ENGINES 

Engineers or other persons in charge of traction engines 
moving along a highway are not permitted to blow the 
whistles of the engines while within five hundred feet of 
teams passing on the highway, if the teams can be seen from 
the engines. The law also requires the stopping of the 
engine at least one hundred feet before meeting a horse or 
team on the road, unless on a side hill where stopping may 
expose the flues of the engine and cause an explosion. The 
engine may not be started again until the horse or team has 
passed. Violation of this law is a misdemeanor. 

Persons taking an engine across a culvert or bridge must 
place extra planking upon it for protection. Failure to do 
this makes the owner or engineer liable for one-half the 
expense of repairing the damage caused. The total amount 
so recovered is not to exceed fifty dollars. 



CHAPTER XVI 

TAXES 

It is an old proverb that "nothing is certain but death 
and taxes." And, we might add, one of these certainties is 
about as unwelcome as the other. But taxes, however un- 
friendly the popular attitude toward them may be, seem to 
be so necessary that a majority of the people, through the 
exercise of the authority they have in their own hands, 
continue them from year to year. To throw a little light on 
the big taxation system and make it a little more intelligible 
to the layman who votes the continuation, is the purpose 
of this chapter. 

THE STEPS IN THE TAXING PROCESS 

There are six large steps in the taxing process where the 
general property tax is concerned, — assessment, equaliza- 
tion or review, levy, extension, collection, and distribution. 

ASSESSMENT 

The first step is assessment. The assessor performs this 
task. He is elected in odd-numbered years, — in towns, at 
the annual town meeting; in villages, at the village election; 
in cities, usually as their charters provide. His pay in 
towns is two dollars for each day spent in actual service, 
although the pay may be increased up to three dollars at the 
town meeting, if the increase is made before the assessor is 
elected. Assessment is completed between May 1 and the 
first Monday in June. This allows forty-four days, Sundays 
and holidays excepted, for completing the work. By the 



TAXES 81 

first Monday in July the assessor must be ready to hand in 
his assessment books to the county auditor. 

Real estate is assessed every even-numbered year and 
personal property every year. The valuation is fixed as of 
May 1 of the year it is assessed. All assessments made 
in the state after January 1, 1914, are to be on the following 
basis: (1) 25 per cent of the full and true value of "house- 
hold goods and furniture, including clocks, musical instru- 
ments, sewing machines, wearing apparel of members of the 
family, and all personal property actually used by the 
owner for personal and domestic purposes or for the fur- 
nishing or equipment of the family residence" ; (2) 33}/% per 
cent of the full and true value of "live stock, poultry, agri- 
cultural products, stocks of merchandise of all sorts and 
furniture and fixtures used with them, manufacturers' 
materials and manufactured articles, all tools, implements 
and machinery, and all unplatted real estate;" (3) 50 per 
cent of the full value of iron ore mined or unmined ; (4) 40 
per cent of the full value of all property not incuded in the 
preceding classes. 

Personal property is commonly listed where the owner 
resides. But all farm property of a non-resident is listed 
and assessed in the same town as that in which the farm is 
located. 

Certain property is exempt from taxation. For each 
head of a family SI 00 in personal property is exempt. 
Property used for (1) educational, (2) religious, (3) chari- 
table, and (4) public purposes is exempt, — that is, among 
other things, public libraries, public school buildings, acad- 
emies, colleges, churches, public hospitals, orphans' homes, 
public buildings, and public parks. But property belonging 
to a church and not used for religious or charitable purposes 
is not exempt. 



82 FARMERS' LAW 

"MONEYS AND CREDITS" 

Since 1911 there has been a law providing for the sepa- 
rate listing of all "moneys and credits." Upon this property 
there is a separate and special tax of three mills on the 
dollar. No other tax is levied on this class of personal 
property. "Moneys" under the law includes all money 
owned by a person whether in hand or deposited in any 
bank in Minnesota or other state. "Credits" includes book 
accounts, mortgages and contracts for land not recorded in 
any county in the state, notes, bonds, rents, and all other 
claims for money. Assessment of moneys and credits is 
made at their fair cash value. 

EQUALIZATION 

On the fourth Monday in June the local board of review 
goes over the work of the assessor to equalize assessments 
between individual property owners. In the town this 
local board of review is the town board; in the village, the 
assessor, the clerk, and the president; in fourth class cities 
(10,000 population or less), usually the mayor, the clerk, 
and the aldermen. These boards have power to raise or 
lower assessments. If any assessment is raised the owner 
is given notice, and if any resident owner feels that his as- 
sessment is too high he may appear before the board and, 
when the board deems it just, a correction may be made. 
This local board of review may sit during the six working 
days from the fourth Monday in June to the first Monday 
in July with pay at three dollars per day. In fourth class 
cities the pay of the board is limited to three days. 

On the third Monday in July the county board of equal- 
ization meets. This board is made up of the board of 
county commissioners and the county auditor. It equalizes 
assessments between the taxing districts in the county. It 



TAXES 83 

may also change individual assessments where they consider 
it advisable. It may raise the total valuation of the 
entire county or of any district in the county by a per- 
centage increase, but is not permitted to lower such 
total. This board may remain is session four weeks. The 
members receive three dollars per day and ten cents for 
each mile traveled, but they may receive pay for no more 
than ten days and mileage for one session only. 

The abstract of assessment made by the county board 
of equalization goes to the Minnesota Tax Commission on 
or before the first Monday in August. This commission is 
the last and highest board with equalizing functions. Its 
principal duty is to equalize the assessed valuations as 
between the counties of the state. It meets for this purpose 
on the second Tuesday of September and has until the first 
Monday in January to complete its task. It has power to 
raise or lower the total valuation of real estate in any town, 
village, city, or county by percentage increase or decrease. 
It also has power to raise or lower the assessed valuation of 
any tract or lot of real property in the state. It may also 
raise or lower the personal property valuation of any assess- 
ment district or of any individual in the state, but when 
it raises the valuation of an individual it must give notice 
to that individual of its intention. 

LEVY 
The levy is the specific amount of tax money to be 
raised. Levies are made for six different governing units: 
the school district, the town, the village, the city, the 
county, and the state, but no individuals pay tax on the 
same property for more than four of these units. For 
instance, Jones, who owns a farm in School District No. 14 
in the town of Seward, pays taxes on that farm to support 



84 FARMERS' LAW 

the school in that district, the town, the county, and the 
state. 

In common school districts, the levy is made by the vot- 
ers at the annual school meeting held on the third Saturday 
in July; in independent districts, it is made by the school 
board ; in towns, by the voters at the annual town meeting. 
The amount of village and city taxes is fixed by the local 
authorities according to their charters. The county board 
levies the county tax at its meeting in July. The state levy 
is fixed by the legislature when it makes appropriations. 

It is worth while to note that for two local governments, 
— namely, the school district and the town — two taxes are 
collected without levy having been made. One of these is 
the one mill tax for schools, which is collected "whether 
school keeps or not" and goes to the funds of the district 
where collected. The other is the tax for the fund for 
dragging town roads. This also is a tax of one mill unless 
the assessed valuation of the town is $1,000,000 or more, 
when the total amount raised for this fund is to be $1,000. 

EXTENDING THE TAXES 

Next comes the county auditor's work of extending the 
taxes. This is really nothing but a vast number of prob- 
lems in arithmetic. The auditor divides the amount to be 
raised, for instance, in the town, by the total assessed valu- 
ation of the town. As a simple illustration we might say 
that the town of Seward had voted to raise $1,000 besides 
the "dragging fund" to be spent in the improvement of its 
roads. We will say that the assessed valuation in the town 
is $500,000. The rate of the special tax for roads then 
would be $.002 on every dollar, — in other words, two mills 
on a dollar of assessed valuation. As two mills is one-fifth 
of a cent, it may also be referred to as a tax of one-fifth of 



TAXES 85 

one per cent. This calculating is done by the auditor for 
all the following funds: county revenue, county road, county 
poor, town, town special road, town poor, if any, and the 
district special. The state revenue and state school tax 
rates are furnished to the auditor by the state auditor. As 
stated before, the school district one mill tax and the town 
one mill tax for road-dragging are extended without levy 
having been made. All these rates are then added to find 
the total tax rate. Let us suppose the various rates to be 
as follows : state revenue, 3 mills; state school, 1 mill; county 
revenue, 4 mills; county road, 2 mills; county building, 1 
mill; town, 1 mill; special road, 3 mills; town dragging, 1 
mill; town poor, 1 mill; district general, 1 mill; district spe- 
cial, 5 mills. The total rate would then be 23 mills or $.023 
on the dollar of assessed value. Let us suppose, further, 
that Jones, named above, has real property assessed at 
$1,000 and personal property assessed at $100. His real 
property tax as extended by the county auditor would be 
$23 and his personal property tax $2.30. The sum of the 
two is $25.30. Such a calculation must be made for every 
tax payer who owns both kinds of property. This would 
be all the tax levied against Jones, except for the "moneys 
and credits" tax already described. 

COLLECTION 
Taxes are collected by the county treasurer. They are 
payable the first Monday in January. Personal property 
taxes must be paid before March 1. Real estate taxes may 
be paid in two installments, — one-half before June 1 and 
the remainder before November 1. Taxes not paid before 
these dates are delinquent. 

DELINQUENT TAXES 
A penalty of ten per cent is added to all delinquent 



86 FARMERS' LAW 

taxes. If real estate taxes are not paid until January 1 
following, an additional penalty of five per cent is added. 
The collection of delinquent real estate taxes is enforced 
against the property assessed, while the collection of delin- 
quent personal property taxes is enforced against the person 
assessed. 

If the owner of real estate neglects to pay the taxes on 
it, the auditor lists it with all other tracts of land on which 
the taxes are delinquent and files the list with the clerk of 
court on or before February 1. This filing has the effect 
of a complaint in an action by the county against the tract 
of land. Five days later the clerk returns a copy of the 
list together with a summons to persons interested to show 
cause why judgment should not be entered against the 
land. The auditor then publishes the list and twenty days 
after due notice the clerk enters judgment against the tract, 
if no defense has been made, for the taxes, penalties, and 
costs. On the first Monday in May following, the auditor 
sells the tract of land at public auction, first having given 
ten days' notice of the sale. Unless the land is redeemed, 
three years later the purchaser of the tax certificate or the 
person to whom he may have assigned it, after meeting 
the requirements of the law, becomes absolute owner of 
the property. 

The county treasurer must, on the fifth business day 
in April, file with the clerk of court a list of all personal 
property taxes remaining unpaid on April 1 . Ten days later 
the clerk issues warrants to the sheriff ordering him to seize 
and sell any personal property owned by the delinquents. Be- 
fore April 15 any person whose name is on the delinquent 
list may file an answer with the clerk of court in which he 
sets forth his defense or his objection to the tax and the 
issue is heard and settled in the district court. If the sheriff 



TAXES 87 

cannot collect the delinquent personal property tax, he so 
reports to the clerk of court on June 1. The clerk makes 
up a list of the delinquents and ten days later files it with 
the county board. This board has power to cancel taxes 
it considers impossible to collect. Judgment may be 
entered and execution issued against the remaining 
delinquents. 

DISTRIBUTION 

On the last day of February, May, and October in each 
year the county auditor and the county treasurer distribute 
all funds remaining in the treasury, dividing same as pro- 
vided by law between the state, town, city, village, and 
school district. The county auditor issues warrants for 
these funds. 

OTHER TAXES 

Besides the general property and "money and credits" 
taxes there are other taxes levied in the state. The mort- 
gage registry tax is mentioned in the chapter on mortgage 
deeds. Gross earnings taxes are levied on the total earn- 
ings of public service corporations, — for instance, two per 
cent on the gross premiums of insurance companies, five 
per cent on the total earnings of railroads, six per cent 
against express companies, etc. There is also a tax on 
inheritances. It is not within the field of this book to ex- 
plain these in detail. 



CHAPTER XVII 

SCHOOLS 

Although there are three kinds of school districts, — the 
common, the independent, and the special, this chapter 
will deal with the one in which the farmer usually lives, 
— the first named. 

TO FORM A NEW DISTRICT 
No school district may contain less than four sections 
of land and twelve children of school age. To form a new 
district a majority of the landowners residing in the territory 
that is to comprise it first petition the county board. Be- 
sides setting forth the area of the district and the names 
and ages of all children, the petition must contain the 
number of persons residing in it, the district in which the 
territory lies, the number of children living in each district 
affected, and the reasons for the formation of the new dis- 
trict. The petition then goes to the county superintendent 
for his approval or disapproval. It is next brought to the 
attention of the county board, which sets a time and place 
for a hearing and causes two weeks' published notice in the 
county and ten days' posted notice in each district affected 
by the petition. The clerk of each district is also sent a 
notice at least ten days before the hearing. At the hearing 
the county board hears evidence and argument and then 
makes an order granting or denying the petition. If it is 
granted, a copy of the order is sent by the auditor to the 
clerk of each district affected, and he also causes ten days' 
notice to be given of a meeting to organize the new district. 



SCHOOLS 89 

ENLARGING THE BOUNDARIES OF DISTRICTS 

By the same proceedings as when a new district is 
formed and also upon petition of a majority of all freeholders 
of each district affected, the boundaries of any school dis- 
trict may be changed, or two or more districts consolidated, 
or one or more districts annexed to an existing district. 
Much the same method is also used to annex territory out- 
side a school district in a city or village, if the city or village 
has less than 7,000 population and the territory affected 
is continuous with this district. 

SETTING OFF LAND TO AN ADJOINING DISTRICT 

To have land set off to an adjoining district a freeholder 
may present to the county board a petition which has been 
verified by him and which contains the following: (1) a 
statement that he owns land within the county adjoining 
a district in the county, (2) a statement of his desire to 
have that land set off to the adjoining district, and (3) his 
reasons for asking the change. The board, after notice 
and hearing as in the previous cases and after proof of the 
statements in the petition, may make an order granting 
the petition. This setting off of land may be done even 
though the land does not adjoin the district but is separated 
from it by not more than a quarter section of land that is 
vacant or whose owner is not known. 

DISSOLVING SCHOOL DISTRICTS 

The county board has power to dissolve any district in 
which for two years no school has been held and to order 
its territory to be attached to one or more nearby districts. 
Notice must be sent to the clerks of the districts affected 
as in other cases of change of boundaries. The territory 
is to be attached in the fairest manner possible and with 



90 FARMERS' LAW 

regard to the convenience of those living in the district dis- 
solved. 

THE ANNUAL SCHOOL MEETING 

The annual school meeting, which takes place on the 
third Saturday in July, at 7 p. m., unless a different hour 
has been set at the previous annual meeting, is the event of 
greatest importance in the matter of control of school affairs 
in the common school district. Here all men and women 
living in the district who are qualified voters have a voice. 
Among the things of consequence done at this meeting are 
the election by ballot of board members, fixing the number 
of months of school, voting funds for ' 'keeping" the school, 
directing the board to make certain improvements, and 
providing free text-books for children attending the school. 
Unless there is an irregular vacancy, only one of the three 
board members is elected at each annual meeting. 

SPECIAL SCHOOL MEETINGS 
Special school meetings may be held (1) upon the written 
request of five freeholders of the district, (2) upon the adop- 
tion of a proper resolution by the board, or (3) upon a 
request signed by a majority of the board members. Such 
meetings are called by the clerk by ten days' posted notice 
and one week's published notice, if there is a newspaper in 
the district. If it is made to appear by affidavit that the 
district does not contain five voters who are freeholders or 
that there is no legal school board in the district, the county 
superintendent may, if he believes there is need for same, 
call a special meeting. At special meetings no business 
except that named in the notice may be transacted. 

THE BOARD'S POWERS AND DUTIES 
The school board has, among others, the following 



SCHOOLS vi 

powers and duties : (1) It has general charge of the business 
of the district and the management of its schools; (2) it 
purchases apparatus and furniture, provides outbuildings, 
plants shade trees, obtains insurance on property, makes 
repairs on same; (3) it provides for the heating and care of 
buildings; (4) it pays all just claims against the district; 
(5) it purchases text-books; (6) it employs teachers and 
discharges them for cause; (7) its members visit school at 
least once in every three months; (8) it leases rooms for school 
purposes. (9) It may also pay expenses of the school board 
members to one school officers' meeting in each year when 
the meeting is called by the county superintendent. For 
this the board may allow pay at three dollars per day, as 
well as mileage at five cents per mile. It (10) may admit non- 
resident pupils, fixing the rates of tuition, (11) provide 
transportation for pupils living more than a half-mile from 
the school house, and (12) discontinue school, providing 
instruction in and free transportation to the schools of 
adjoining districts for the pupils of their district. 

SPECIAL STATE AID TO RURAL SCHOOLS 

Rural schools maintaining eight months of school and 
employing teachers holding first grade certificates receive 
special state aid in amount of $150. Where the term is of 
the same length and the teacher holds a second grade cer- 
tificate, the aid is $100. Districts maintaining seven 
months of school and employing teachers holding second 
grade certificates receive $75. Some rural districts have 
so many children of school age that they maintain schools 
that employ two or three teachers. These schools are 
known as semi-graded schools, and receive $300 special 
state aid if they maintain yearly eight months of school. 
In addition to the requirements above, the State Superin- 



92 FARMERS' LAW 

tendent of Education has laid down certain requirements 
as to equipment and other conveniences and these also 
must be met in order to qualify for aid. 

ASSOCIATION 

An associated rural school is one which, by a process 
hereinafter described, provides for the instruction of its 
pupils in agricultural and industrial subjects and is under 
the care and influence of the high or graded school, termed 
the "central" school, with which it is associated. The 
superintendent or principal of the central school exercises 
the same authority over the associated rural school as over 
his central schools, and prepares for it a course of study 
which includes agriculture and one of the other industrial 
subjects, manual training or home economics, or both. 

Association is accomplished by the following steps: (1) 
A petition signed by twenty-five per cent of the freeholders 
in the district goes to the county superintendent; (2) he 
calls a special meeting giving proper notice of same; (3) at 
the meeting the voters check ballots which read as follows : 
"To associate with District No. ... at for the main- 
tenance of an agricultural and industrial department. 
Yes . . ., No . . .," (4) if a majority of the voters place a 
cross-mark after "Yes" the district becomes associated with 
the central school upon the approval of the board of the 
central school. The board of the rural district then chooses 
one of its members to act with the board of the central 
school in matters relating to association. 

The boards of rural school districts which have 
associated with a central school, at a meeting held the 
first Monday in August of each year, make a tax levy 
to pay for the advantages under association. The tax 
so levied must not be less than two mills. The central 



SCHOOLS 93 

school receives from the state $150 per year for each 
year that each district is associated, and the associated dis- 
trict itself, upon the recommendation of the superintendent 
of the central school and of the county superintendent, 
receives $50 per year from the state. 

The central school is not permitted to make a tuition 
charge against any associated district where children from 
that district attend the central school. But a tuition charge 
may be made against districts not associated where children 
from such a district are enrolled in the seventh grade or 
above and are receiving instruction in agriculture, home 
economics, or manual training. The State High School 
Board has ruled that these tuition rates may be no higher 
than $1.50 per month in seventh and eighth grades and $2 
for one industrial subject in the high school. The monthly 
charge in any case may not exceed $2.50 for any pupil. 

Associated districts may vote to withdraw from the 
relationship by a two-thirds vote, if at least a year's notice 
has been given the central district of the intention to vote 
upon withdrawal. 

CONSOLIDATION 

Consolidation is either the joining of two or more school 
districts of any kind to form a new district or the annexation 
of one or more districts to a district which already exists 
and in which is maintained a state graded, semi-graded, or 
high school. In either case the districts are consolidated 
so as to provide larger or better organized schools than are 
possible under the old rural school unit system. 

The proceedings in the consolidation of rural school dis- 
tricts into a new school district are outlined in the statutes. 
The county superintendent prepares a plat of the proposed 
district, in which are shown its size, boundaries, location of 



94 FARMERS' LAW 

school houses, and the location of adjoining districts and 
school houses. This plat is submitted to the State Superin- 
tendent of Education for his approval. If the plat is 
approved, petitions asking for the formation of the consoli- 
dated district must be signed and acknowledged by at least 
twenty-five per cent of the freeholders in the proposed new 
district, and these petitions are presented to the county 
superintendent. He, within ten days, gives ten days' post- 
ed notice of a special meeting to be held within the proposed 
district to vote upon consolidation. The time and place of 
the meeting must also be included in the notice. If, on 
the date set, at least twenty-five voters are present, they 
vote by ballot on consolidation. The result of the ballot 
is sent to the county superintendent, and if there is a major- 
ity in favor of consolidation he transmits a copy of the 
results to the county auditor, to the clerk of each district 
affected by the change, and to the State Superintendent of 
Education. He further gives ten days' posted notice of 
a meeting to elect the officers for the new district. 

The proceedings where it is proposed to consolidate 
rural school districts with a district in which is maintained 
a state graded, semi-graded, or high school are the same, 
except that only the rural districts vote upon consolidation. 
The school board of the district with which these rural dis- 
tricts are voting to consolidate, to make the consolidation 
valid, approve it. 

Boards in consolidated districts are authorized to estab- 
lish schools of two or more departments, provide for the 
transportation of pupils to and from school, or spend a reason- 
able amount for room and board of pupils when it is more 
convenient or cheaper to do so than to transport them. 

The state gives special aid to consolidated schools: 
$1,500 per year to districts which have an area of 18 sec- 



SCHOOLS 95 

tions and a school of four departments; $1,000 per year 
where the area is 18 sections and there are three depart- 
ments; $750 where the area is 12 sections and there are two 
departments. The state will also pay for one-fourth of the 
cost of a new school building, but not more than $1,500 to 
any one district. 

COMPULSORY EDUCATION 

Every child between eight and sixteen years of age must 
attend a public or private school during the entire time the 
public schools of the district in which the child lives are in 
session. A child may be excused from attendance upon 
application to the board if it is shown that his bodily or 
mental condition prevents attendance or application to 
study, or that he has completed the subjects ordinarily 
required in eighth grade, or that there is no public school 
within reasonable distance, or weather conditions or travel 
make it impossible for the child to attend. Children over 
fourteen years of age may be excused between April 1 and 
November 1 if their help is needed in or about the homes of 
the parents or guardians. Children may also be absent on 
days they are receiving religious instruction according to 
the rites of some church. Parents or others having control 
of children who fail to keep such children in school as re- 
quired by law are guilty of a misdemeanor and may be 
punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or imprison- 
ment in the county jail for not more than thirty days. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ELECTIONS-PRIMARY AND 
GENERAL 

WHO MAY VOTE 

These persons may vote in Minnesota: male citizens, 
21 years of age, who have lived in the state six months and 
in the election district for thirty days preceding an election 
and who belong to one of the following classes: (1) those 
who have been citizens of the United States for three months 
preceding an election; (2) those of mixed white and Indian 
blood who have adopted the customs and habits of civiliza- 
tion; (3) those of Indian blood who have been admitted to 
citizenship by the district court. Women who are 21 years 
of age may vote for school officers and members of library 
boards, as well as on questions relating to those institutions. 

THE ELECTIONS 

It is not within the purpose of this book to deal with 
school district, town, village, and city elections. We shall 
treat only of the general election and the two primary elec- 
tions, — the presidential preference primary and the "state- 
wide" primary. 

PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE PRIMARY ELECTIONS 

On the same date as the town meeting — the second 
Tuesday in March — except that it is not held annually as 
is the town meeting, but once in four years, the presidential 
preference primary election occurs. Its purposes are three : 



ELECTIONS— PRIMARY AND GENERAL 97 

(1) the popular expression for the party nominations for 
President and Vice-President of the United States, (2) the 
nomination of presidential electors, and (3) the election of 
delegates (and alternates) to the national convention of 
each party. The vote at this election is on party lines 
only. 

The names of candidates for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent are placed on the ballot by the Secretary of State after 
receiving a petition signed by two per cent of the total vote 
of the party at the last presidential election, but the petition 
shall contain no more than 500 signatures. Those desiring 
to be candidates for presidential electors or delegates to the 
national convention must file, thirty days before the elec- 
tion, with the Secretary of State when to be voted for in 
more than one county, and with the county auditor when 
in a single county. They must further pledge that they 
will, in the event of their election, faithfully carry out the 
wishes of their parties as expressed by the voters at this 
election. The candidates for electors having the highest 
number of votes are the nominees of their parties and their 
names are placed on the ballots at the next general election. 
The candidates of each party for delegates who receive the 
largest number of votes are declared elected and attend the 
national convention of their party. The next highest are 
alternates. The delegates are bound to support at their con- 
ventions the candidates for President and Vice-President 
who received the largest number of votes of their party at 
the presidential preference primary election. 

Voters at this election, before receiving a ballot, must 
name the party with which they intend to affiliate in the 
coming general election. 



98 FARMERS' LAW 

THE STATE-WIDE PRIMARY ELECTION 

At the state-wide primary election, which takes place 
the third Tuesday in June preceding a general election, all 
elective county officers except the county surveyor, all state 
officers, district and Supreme Court judges, members of the 
State Legislature and of* Congress are nominated. Of these, 
all county officers, the judges, and members of the legis- 
lature are nominated on the nonpartisan ballot; the others, 
on party lines. 

To get his name on a ballot for this primary election, 
a candidate must file with the county auditor if he is to run 
in one county and with the Secretary of State if he is to run 
in more than one county. The fee for filing is $10 with 
the county auditor and $20 with the Secretary of State, 
except that candidates for state offices, judges of the Su- 
preme Court, and congressmen at large pay $50. Filing 
with the Secretary of State must be done 40 days, and with 
the county auditor 20 days, before the primary election. 
Names of justices of the Supreme Court may also be placed 
on the primary election ballot by a petition signed by from 
500 to 1000 voters of the state; district court judges by a 
petition signed by 250 to 500 voters. It is no longer pos- 
sible to secure a nomination by petition after the primary 
election is over unless there is a vacancy among the candi- 
dates. 

Every voter, without regard to his political affiliations, 
has the right to vote a nonpartisan ballot at the primary. 

The two candidates for any nonpartisan office who re- 
ceive the highest number of votes are the nominees and 
their names will go on the ballot at the general election. 
When only two persons file for a nonpartisan office they 
are considered the nominees for the office and their names 
are not placed on the primary election ballot. 



ELECTIONS— PRIMARY AND GENERAL 



99 



There will be as many party or partisan ballots as there 
are active parties interested in the election. The voter may 
call for such party ballot as he declares he generally sup- 
ported at the last election and which he intends to support 
at the coming election. If his right to the party ballot 
which he names is questioned, he may make the same 
declaration under oath, and the ballot is then given him. 
In marking the partisan ballot the voter places an X after 
his first choice and also after his second choice of the candi- 
dates. On the partisan ballot the candidate securing a 
majority of all votes cast is the nominee of his party. That 
majority, unless it is apparent from the total first choice 
votes, is found as in the following illustration: 



Candidates 


First 
choice 
votes 


Second choice votes 






Brown 


Smith 


Jones 


Johnson 


Brown 


8,000 




4,000 


1,000 


400 


Smith 


7,000 


3,200 




800 


3,000 


Jones 


6,000 


2,000 


3,500 




400 


Johnson 


5,000 


2,000 


2,000 


1,000 





Johnson, having the least number of first choice votes, is 
dropped. The second choice votes of those who voted for 
him are then added to the totals of the first choice votes of 
the candidates for whom those second choice votes are cast. 
This leaves the total vote: Brown, 10,000; Smith, 9,000; 
Jones, 7,000. Still no candidate has the required majority. 



100 FARMERS' LAW 

Next, Jones is dropped, the second choice votes of those 
who voted for him being added to the total votes of Brown 
and Smith as they now stand. This gives the following 
result: Brown, 12,000; Smith, 12,500. As Smith now has 
a majority, he is declared the nominee of his party. 

THE GENERAL ELECTION 

The date of the general election is the Tuesday after the 
first Monday in November in even-numbered years. Can- 
didates nominated at the preceding primary elections are 
voted upon and the candidate for each ofhce who receives 
the greatest number of votes is declared elected. 

THE CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT 

The State Legislature in special session in the summer 
of 1912 passed a thorough-going corrupt practices act, — an 
act regulating the conduct of campaigns. Some of its 
essential features are here given in condensed form. 

Candidates, after filing, are forbidden to pay out money 
or give other valuable things for any but (1) necessary per- 
sonal traveling expenses, postage, telegraph, telephone, and 
other public messenger service; (2) rent of halls where 
speeches are made ; (3) pay for speakers and musicians and 
their traveling expenses; (4) printing of sample ballots, 
posters, cards, handbills; (5) filing fees; (6) campaign adver- 
tising in newspapers and other periodicals. Publishers are 
required to print "Paid Advertisement " in pica type at 
the head of all matter dealing with candidates which is paid 
for and published in their periodicals. Candidates are re- 
quired to keep within the following limitations in the total 
amounts they may spend during a campaign : candidates for 
governor, $7,000; other state officers, $3,500; state senators, 
$600; state representatives, $400; county officers, one-third 



ELECTIONS— PRIMARY AND GENERAL 101 

of the salary that the candidate, if elected to the office, 
will draw. No person is permitted to solicit of candidates 
contributions for any religious, charitable, or other causes, 
or for the public good. No food, entertainment, clothing, 
liquors, tobacco or cigars, etc., shall be given or be paid for 
by a candidate with the hope or purpose of influencing a 
voter. Threat to make use of any force or violence in 
order to induce any person to vote for any candidate is 
prohibited. Candidates may not make bets or wagers as 
to the outcome of any election in their election districts. It 
is unlawful for any person to furnish a vehicle for carrying 
any voter to the polls unless such voter is of the same 
household as the person furnishing the conveyance or 
where two or more voters club together for hiring such a 
conveyance at their own expense. It is unlawful for any 
person within one hundred feet of a building in which there 
is a polling place in any way to try to persuade a voter to 
vote for or to refrain from voting for any candidate. Cam- 
paign literature of any kind may not be circulated any- 
where on the day of an election. Every candidate, or the 
secretary of his campaign committee, must file with the 
officer with whom he filed for election, on certain Saturdays 
which the law names, complete statements of all expendi- 
tures made on account of the campaign. 

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS 

At the general election there is handed to each male 
voter, in addition to the state and county ballots, a "pink 
ballot" which names and describes briefly the amendments 
to the State Constitution which have been proposed at the 
preceding session of the Legislature by a majority vote of 
both houses. The voter is to vote upon each proposed 
amendment separately. In order to become a part of the 



102 FARMERS' LAW 

Constitution, a proposed amendment must receive a major- 
ity of all votes cast at that election. Every voter should 
inform himself before the day of the election as to what 
amendments have been proposed and for and against 
which he will have the opportunity to cast his vote. Then, 
when he steps into the booth, he will not neglect the very 
important duty of giving intelligent expression of his 
desires as to the proposed amendments. 

FURTHER RULES CONCERNING ELECTIONS 

Polls are to be kept open in towns and villages from 
9 a. m. until 9 p. m. both for primary and general elections. 
Towns have one polling place unless there are more than 
400 voters, in which case two polling places are provided. 
Liquor may not be sold on any general, special, or primary 
election day. Employees are permitted to leave their work 
in order to vote during the forenoon of an election day with- 
out any decrease in the amount of their pay because of the 
absence. 



CHAPTER XIX 

WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION 

Jones dies, leaving property. How and to whom that 
property is to be distributed will depend upon whether 
Jones dies with or without having made a will. If he dies 
having provided a valid will, his property is distributed 
according to the terms of that instrument ; if he fails to do so, 
it is distributed according to law. Both methods of admin- 
istration of the estates of deceased persons will be briefly 
described in this chapter. 

WHO MAY MAKE A WILL 

"Every person of full age and sound mind" may dispose 
of his estate, real and personal, by will. "Every person" 
here includes married women. "Full age" is twenty-one 
with men, eighteen with women. Insane and feeble-minded 
persons and those under the influence of intoxicants can 
not be considered of "sound mind." 

THE FORM OF THE WILL 

Wills must be in writing. They need not follow any 
prescribed form but they must be signed by the testator 
and witnessed and subscribed in his presence by two or more 
witnesses. The following is a suggested form of will where 
all the property goes to one person. Where there is more 
than one beneficiary the will is necessarily longer and con- 
tains more provisions for the distribution of the property. 



104 FARMERS' LAW 

Short Form of Will 

I, John Jones, of the County of- and State 

of Minnesota, being of sound mind and memory, do declare 
this to be my last will and testament, revoking all former 
wills and testamentary instruments by me made. 

First, after the payment of my just debts and funeral 
expenses, I give, devise, and bequeath all my estate, real and 
personal, of every kind and nature, wherever situated, to my 
son, Ralph Jones. 

Second, I appoint my said son, Ralph Jones, executor of 
this my last will and testament. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my 
name this ninth day of August, A. D. 1913. 

John Jones (Signature of testator) 

On this ninth day of August, A. D. 1913, the above 
named testator, John Jones, subscribed the foregoing instru- 
ment in our presence and declared the same to be his last will 
and testament, and we, at his request, and in his presence 
and in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names 
hereunto as witnesses. 

(Signatures James Jameson residing at 

of witnesses) Alfred Beamer residing at 

The statute requires "two or more competent witnesses" 
to attest and subscribe. The last clause in the form of will 
above is the attestation clause. The attestation consists 
in the two or more witnesses, as Jameson and Beamer in the 
case of the will above, signing, that is, "subscribing," their 
names at the end of the will at the testator's request and in 
his presence. Jameson and Beamer in this instance should 
have seen Jones sign the will or he must have told them that 
the signature was his own. 

COMPETENT WITNESSES 
Where one who is to receive a legacy under the will is a 
witness to its execution, there should be two other witnesses 
who will receive none. Otherwise such a legacy is void. 



WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION 105 

SHOULD ONE DRAW HIS OWN WILL? 

Although the essentials of a valid will are neither many 
nor difficult of understanding, one not thoroughly learned 
in the law would be very unwise in drawing his own will, 
especially when adequate legal advice can be secured. 

HOW WILLS ARE REVOKED OR CANCELED 

A will is revoked by a later will or by some writing of the 
testator revoking it. Such a writing must be made in the 
same way as the original will. A will may also be revoked if 
"burnt, torn, canceled, obliterated, or destroyed" by the 
testator himself or by another person whom he has ordered 
so to do in his presence. The injury or destruction of a will 
after this manner must be proven by at least two witnesses. 
A will is revoked if, after it is made, the testator marries. 
Also, all provisions in favor of a spouse are revoked by 
divorce from that spouse. 

STEPS IN ADMINISTERING AN ESTATE WHERE A WILL 

HAS BEEN MADE 

At any time after the death of the maker of a will any 
person interested in the estate, be he named in the will or 
not, may petition the probate court of the proper county 
to have the will proved. The court files the petition and 
appoints a time and place for hearing the proofs of the will 
and provides that a notice of the hearing be published in a 
newspaper. At this hearing evidence may be brought for- 
ward to prove that the will before the court is or is not the 
valid last will and testament of the deceased. Effort is 
usually made to have the subscribing witnesses present at 
the hearing but, as their presence is frequently impossible, 
other witnesses may be admitted to prove the proper execu- 
tion of the will by proving the handwriting of the testator 



106 FARMERS' LAW 

and of the subscribing witnesses. Then the court allows or 
disallows the will. 

EXECUTOR AND ADMINISTRATOR 

John Jones, in the body of the will given near the open- 
ing of this chapter, provides that his son, Ralph Jones, shall 
be executor of his estate, — that is, that he is to have charge 
of the estate until final distribution according to the terms 
of the will. Frequently the testator does not name an 
executor, or the person named has died or refuses to accept 
the trust. Then the probate judge appoints an adminis- 
trator, either the "spouse or next of kin or both, or some 
person selected by them." The executor or administrator 
must give bond in the amount the court directs, to insure 
faithful performance of the trust. 

NOTICE TO CREDITORS 

The executor or administrator then gives notice by 
publication for three weeks in a newspaper for all creditors 
to present their claims against the estate in writing. The 
judge of probate may allow from six months to a year for 
the presentation of these claims. They must be itemized 
and verified by affidavit. 

INVENTORY AND APPRAISAL OF THE ESTATE 

Within three months after his appointment the executor 
or administrator must make and return to the probate court 
an inventory and appraisal of all the property of the 
deceased. Appraisal is made by two or more disinterested 
persons appointed by the court for that purpose. The 
inventory contains the following classification of property : 
(1) real estate, (2) furniture and household goods, (3) wear- 
ing apparel and ornaments, (4) stock in banks and other 



WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION 107 

corporations, (5) mortgages, bonds, and other written 
evidences of debt, (6) all other personal property. 

SETTLEMENT OF THE ESTATE 

The probate judge allows the executor or administrator 
a reasonable period, not to exceed eighteen months, in 
which to settle the estate. For good cause this period may 
be extended, but not to exceed one year at a time. In set- 
tling the estate the provisions of the will are followed, except 
as to setting aside the homestead dealt with below under 
"Descent of Property" and except where the will conflicts 
with the law as to distribution of personal property. 

Children born after the will was made, without provision 
having been made for them in the will or otherwise, share 
in the estate just as if the father had died having made no 
will. The same is true of any other of his children or issue 
of deceased children not benefiting under the will, unless it 
is proved that the omission was intentional. 

ADMINISTRATION OF THE ESTATE WHERE THE DECEASED 

HAS LEFT NO WILL 

Had John Jones died "intestate," that is, leaving no 
will, the steps preparatory to settling up the estate would 
have been much the same as they have already been out- 
lined in this chapter. After his death there would be, first, 
a petition by some person interested in the estate asking for 
the appointment of an administrator. Then would follow 
the published notice of the hearing to persons interested. 
The hearing having occurred, the court would appoint an 
administrator. Creditors would be notified, inventory and 
appraisal of all property would b*e made, and claims settled. 
Then would follow the final hearing and the estate would be 
divided according to law. 



108 FARMERS' LAW 

DESCENT OF PROPERTY 

The distribution of the estate of a person dying intestate 
is provided for under three classifications, (a) Homestead, 
(b) Other Real Property, (c) Personal Property. 

(a) The Homestead 

The homestead, defined elsewhere in this book, descends 
to the surviving spouse if there is no surviving child or 
issue of any deceased child. In the former case the sur- 
viving spouse takes an absolute title to the homestead. If 
there are both a spouse and child or children or issue of 
deceased children, the homestead descends to the spouse for 
the rest of his or her life. These rules apply to the descent 
of the homestead in spite of provisions in wills or other 
disposal made without the consent of the spouse. In 
other cases the homestead may be disposed of by will, and 
if not by will, it descends in the same manner as other real 
estate. 

(b) Other Real Estate 

All real estate other than the homestead descends as 
follows: 

(1) All to the surviving spouse, if there are no children 
or issue of deceased children. 

(2) One-third to the surviving spouse, if he or she has 
not consented to the disposition of such real estate 
in writing by will or otherwise, and the remainder 
equally divided between children and the issue of 
deceased children. 

(3) If there is no surviving spouse, all the lands are 
divided equally between the children and issue of 
deceased children. 



WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION 109 

(4) In the absence of spouse or issue, to the father and 
mother in equal shares. If but one of these survives 
then all to such survivor. 

(5) If there are none of the above, in equal shares to 
brothers and sisters and lawful issue of deceased 
brothers and sisters. 

(6) If the intestate leaves no issue, spouse, father or 
mother, or brother or sister, or living issue of brother 
or sister, to the "next of kin" (nearest relatives). 

(7) If there is neither spouse nor kindred, all the 
property goes to the state. 

(c) Personal Property 

The widow is allowed all the wearing apparel of her 
deceased husband. Household furniture to the value of 
not more than five hundred dollars and other personal 
property in the same amount, in both cases her own selec- 
tion, go to her. If there is no surviving widow, the same 
allowances go to the minor children, selection to be made 
for them by their guardian. The excess of personal prop- 
erty over these amounts is distributed in the following 
order: (1) payment of funeral expenses and costs of 
administering the estate, (2) payment of the debts of the 
estate, (3) one-third of the remainder to the widow, (4) the 
remaining two-thirds, or the whole, if there is no widow, to 
be distributed as in the case of the division of real estate as 
outlined under (b). These provisions for the division of 
the personal estate apply as well to a surviving husband as 
to a surviving wife. 

POSTHUMOUS CHILDREN 

In the descent of property a child born after the death 
of its parent is considered as living at the time of such 
death. 



110 FARMERS' LAW 

GUARDIANS 

Guardians for children under age are sometimes named 
in wills. Where this has not been done and where the 
court deems it advisable, it may appoint guardians for the 
children and the estate if the children are under fourteen. 
Children over fourteen may select their own guardians sub- 
ject to the approval of the court. 



CHAPTER XX 

CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS 

In recent years there has been a great development of 
co-operative organization among Minnesota farmers. 
Familiar examples of these co-operative enterprises are 
creameries, cheese factories, skimming stations, grain ele- 
vators, town mutual insurance companies, stores, threshing 
rigs, silage outfits, corn shelters, and stallions. The statute 
permits these co-operative associations to engage in "any 
lawful mercantile, manufacturing, or agricultural business." 
The organization and management of these associations is 
governed by statute and is the same for all except for the 
township mutual insurance company, which is discussed in 
a later chapter. 

ORGANIZATION 

Co-operative associations are financed by subscription 
for shares of stock. These shares are usually from one to 
one hundred dollars in face value. The entire capital stock 
of a creamery association may not exceed twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars, while other enterprises may sell stock in 
amount of one hundred thousand dollars. No less than 
seven persons may organize such an association and own its 
stock. No share may be issued for less than its par value 
and no member of the association is permitted to own 
stock whose par value is greater than one thousand dollars. 
The association may commence business as soon as twenty 
per cent of the capital stock has been subscribed and paid 



112 FARMERS' LAW 

in. The association is forbidden to issue any certificate 
for shares before the full amount of those shares has been 
paid in. The certificate of incorporation of the association 
is filed in the office of the clerk of the town, village, or city 
in which the business is carried on. A majority of the 
incorporators must be residents of the county of its princi- 
pal place of business. The duration of any such com- 
pany shall not exceed twenty years, but this period may 
be extended by renewal. 

MANAGEMENT 

The officers of such an association are a president, a 
treasurer, and not less than three directors, and these are 
chosen annually by the stockholders. These officers act 
as a board of managers for the association. By-laws for 
the conduct of the association are made at its meetings and 
in these by-laws it may provide for any other officers. The 
certificate of incorporation may be amended at a stock- 
holders' meeting upon ten days' notice. 

PROFITS 

The profits of the association are usually distributed as 
dividends in proportion to the amount of stock that each 
member holds. These dividends must be declared as often 
as once a year. Where for five successive years the board 
fails to declare a dividend, five or more stockholders by 
petition may apply to the district court to have the associa- 
tion dissolved. 

REPORT TO DAIRY AND FOOD COMMISSION 

Every creamery association, on or before December 30 
of each year, must make a report to the State Dairy and 
Food Commission at the Capitol in St. Paul, giving the name 
of the corporation, its principal place of business, the loca- 



CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS 113 

tion of the creamery, and the number of pounds of butter 
or other dairy products made by it during the year. 

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CO-OPERATION 

In some communities of the state co-operative associa- 
tions have in recent years been so organized that not only 
the stockholders but also their patrons share in the profits. 
In such associations the certificate of incorporation provides 
that the stock draw only a reasonable rate of interest, — 6, 7, 
or 8 per cent — , and that beyond this and a small sum set 
aside for a sinking fund the profits are to be divided accord- 
ing to the patronage of the customers, whether or not they 
hold stock in the association. This plan has the advantage 
over the one in which the profits are divided among the 
shareholders only in that it encourages each patron to 
"boost" for the association, — it makes every patron a real 
friend of the enterprise. This movement in co-operation 
has brought into existence a few associations in which the 
nonstockholding patrons who do a specified amount of 
business with the association are not only given a share of 
the profits, but also have a vote in the business meetings. 



CHAPTER XXI 

PROPERTY INSURANCE-The Min- 
nesota Standard Policy 

DEFINITIONS 

The first thing to be noted about insurance is that it is 
a contract whereby one party agrees to make good the 
losses by mishap or otherwise of another party. The first 
party is called the insurer or underwriter and, as most of the 
insurers are corporations, they are usually referred to as 
"companies." The second party is called the insured. 
Since the contract, usually in writing, is called a policy and 
is in the hands of the insured, the second party is commonly 
known as the policy-holder. The amount paid by the 
insured for his protection is the premium. 

THE MINNESOTA STANDARD POLICY 

The form of contract or policy issued by companies 
doing business in Minnesota must follow certain definite 
requirements which are incorporated in the "Minnesota 
Standard Policy." Any company wilfully making, issuing, 
or delivering a policy violating the requirements of the 
Standard Policy is guilty of a gross misdemeanor, although 
every stipulation in such an illegal policy in favor of the 
insured will be binding upon the company. 

OBLIGATIONS OF THE INSURED 

There are some features of the Standard Policy, princi- 
pally obligations upon the insured, which it is deemed ad vis- 



PROPERTY INSURANCE 115 

able to mention here. It is necessary to describe the prop- 
erty insured with some care. Some items are not included 
in the insured property unless specially mentioned. Among 
them are drafts, notes, accounts, evidences and securities of 
property of every kind, books, wearing apparel, money and 
jewels. The amount of loss made good by the underwriter 
may not include damage caused by an explosion of any kind 
unless fire follows the explosion and then for the loss by 
fire only. If any important fact or circumstance stated in 
writing is not fairly set forth by the insured, or if the 
insured makes any effort to defraud the company either 
before or after the loss, the policy is without effect. It is 
void as well if the insured takes any other insurance on 
the same property without the assent of the company or 
removes the property without its assent, or if, without such 
assent, the premises remain vacant for more than thirty 
days. Kerosene may be used for lighting purposes, and in 
dwelling houses kerosene stoves may be used for domestic 
purposes without voiding the policy. It is very common, 
also, to include in the policy a "gasoline permit," which 
allows the use of gasoline for domestic purposes and the 
storage of a limited amount for such use in a dwelling house 
or other building ; but this clause is inserted at the pleasure 
of the company. If the insured uses gasoline, he should 
insist upon having the gasoline permit included in his policy. 
If the insured property is exposed to loss or damage by fire, 
the policy-holder is required to make all reasonable exer- 
tions to save it. 

THE STATEMENT 

When there is any loss or damage of insured property, 
the Standard Policy provides that the insured shall "forth- 
with," that is, within a reasonable time, render a statement 



116 FARMERS' LAW 

to the company covering the following points: the value of 
the property insured except in the case of total loss on 
buildings, the interest of the insured therein, all other 
insurance on the property, the purposes for which and by 
whom the property was used, and the time and manner in 
which the fire originated, as far as known. 

ADJUSTMENT 

The company is required, according to the terms of the 
Standard Policy, to make payment for loss within sixty days 
after the statement is submitted. Where there is insur- 
ance by more than one company, each company pays its 
proportion of the loss. Whenever the underwriter and 
insured fail to agree as to the amount of the loss, the matter 
is referred to three referees, who are chosen in the following 
manner : the company and the insured each choose one from 
three persons named by the other, and the third is selected by 
the two so chosen. Suits against companies for the recovery 
of any claim must be brought within two years from the 
date the loss occurred. 



CHAPTER XXII 

FARMERS' MUTUAL INSURANCE 
COMPANIES 

TOWN MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES 

A common mode of insurance in some sections of Minne- 
sota and in some other states is the Township Mutual 
Insurance Company. Township mutual insurance com- 
panies are co-operative insurance companies, — that is, 
insurance companies whose stockholders are the insured 
property owners themselves. These companies are not 
charitable nor benevolent schemes but are planned to pro- 
tect the private interests of the subscribers. The State of 
Minnesota by statute permits the organization of these 
mutual or co-operative companies where not less than 
twenty-five persons residing in adjoining towns, "who shall 
collectively own property worth at least fifty thousand 
dollars, form themselves into a corporation for mutual 
insurance against loss or damage by fire or lightning." 
Township mutual companies are forbidden to operate in 
more than fifty towns at one time. The corporate existence 
shall not exceed thirty years, except that it may be renewed 
from time to time by a two-thirds vote of all members pres- 
ent at a regular meeting of the corporation. 

CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION 

Certificates of incorporation and the by-laws of the 
company are required to be filed with the State Insurance 
Commission. In drafting these it is advisable, though not 



118 FARMERS' LAW 

required, to secure the services of a competent attorney. 
The certificate, which must be acknowledged before a 



prope 

(i 

(2 
(3 
(4 
(5 
(6 
(7 
(8 
(9 
(10 



officer, should specify the following: 
The name. 

Location of the principal office. 
General nature of the business. 
Territory where business is to be transacted. 
Who may become members. 
Source of corporation funds. 
Classes of property it is planned to insure. 
To what board its management will be given. 
The date of its annual meeting. 
The duration of the company's existence. 

KINDS OF PROPERTY TO BE INSURED 



These companies are given power to insure the following 
kinds of property: "dwellings and their contents, farm 
buildings and their contents, live stock, farm machinery, 
hay and grain in the bin or stack, churches, school- 
houses, society and town halls, country blacksmith shops 
and their contents, parsonages and their contents, and the 
barns and contents used in connection therewith, butter- 
makers' dwelling houses and contents, and barns used in 
connection therewith." Such companies are not permitted 
to insure property within the limits of any city or village 
except that located upon lands actually used for farming 
or gardening purposes. The insurance may be against loss 
by fire or lightning only, and policies may not be issued 
for terms to exceed five years. 

HOW THESE COMPANIES ARE SUPPORTED 

Township mutual insurance companies are supported by 
premiums and assessments. Premiums are paid before the 



MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES 119 

policies are delivered to the insured. These premiums may 
not be sufficient to meet the needs of the company and, to 
provide for an emergency fund, the directors of the com- 
pany may levy an assessment of not more than two mills on 
a dollar of all the insurance in force. Whenever any loss of 
insured property exceeds the cash funds of the company 
the directors have power to make assessment to cover the 
excess. Suit may be brought against any member of the 
company who refuses or neglects to pay an assessment regu- 
larly made. 

ADJUSTMENT OF LOSSES 

As soon as a member sustains a loss he notifies the secre- 
tary of the mutual company. Usually, when the claim is 
three hundred dollars or less, the loss is ascertained by the 
secretary or president, or both. If the claim is more than 
three hundred dollars, the directors of the company appoint 
a committee of three, of whom the secretary shall be one, to 
learn the amount of the loss. If the insured and the com- 
pany can not agree as to the amount of the loss, the adjust- 
ment is left to three men not interested in the loss, the com- 
pany and the policy-holder each selecting one, the third 
being selected by the two so chosen. 

MUTUAL HAIL, TORNADO AND CYCLONE COMPANIES 

Minnesota Statute also permits the organization of 
mutual companies for insurance against loss or damage by 
hail, cyclones, tornadoes and hurricanes. Before such a 
company may be organized there must have been subscribed 
on its books at least two hundred thousand dollars of this 
kind of insurance in not less than four hundred separate 
risks upon property located in not less than ten counties and 
upon not more than fifteen risks of one hundred sixty acres 



120 FARMERS' LAW 

each in any one township. Furthermore, each subscriber 
must have paid in a membership fee of three dollars. 

The following classes of property only may be insured in 
such a company : country churches and school houses, farm 
dwellings, barns and other buildings, hay, grain, and other 
farm products in these buildings or stored or growing on the 
premises, and live stock on the premises or running at large. 

In its hail department no company is permitted to 
insure more than 3200 acres in any one township; there 
must be at least one-half mile between each risk, but risks 
may be taken on lands of not more than 320 acres in area 
where the land is all in one piece or in pieces touching at 
the boundaries. In this hail department a mutual company 
is required to collect a premium of not less than two and one- 
half per cent per year of the amount insured. Every policy- 
holder is also liable to assessment for all losses in a sum 
equal to this premium, but not more than five per cent of 
his insurance. 

Mutual hail, tornado and cyclone companies are under 
the supervision of the State Insurance Commissioner, who 
may demand a report of any of them at any time, order an 
examination of their books, revoke their licenses to do busi- 
ness, or bring an action in the district court to wind up 
their affairs. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

LIFE INSURANCE 

WHAT IT IS 

The life insurance contract differs from the property 
insurance contract principally in that in the former we say 
"If I die" instead of "If my barn burns." The purpose of 
life insurance in its earlier history was only that of protect- 
ing against want those dependent upon the insured in the 
event of his death. While that is still the prominent func- 
tion of life insurance today, the development of the business 
during the last century has added others. A few of these 
are given in the following description of the more common 
kinds of life insurance. 

Rates or premiums for life insurance depend upon the 
age of the applicant, — the older the insured, the higher the 
rate. 

ORDINARY LIFE INSURANCE 

"Ordinary" or "straight" life insurance is the original 
life insurance. The policy provides that the amount named 
will be paid by the company to the beneficiary, that is, the 
person in whose favor the policy is written, at the death of 
the insured. Payment of the premium is made regularly — 
usually every year — until the death of the insured. 

LIMITED PAYMENT LIFE INSURANCE 

Limited payment life insurance provides for the pay- 
ment of the regular premium through a limited number of 
years, let us say, for example, twenty, but the protection 



122 FARMERS' LAW 

runs not only through the period during which premiums 
are being paid, but until the death of the insured, whenever 
that may occur. Although the rates for limited payment 
insurance are higher than for ordinary insurance, it has a 
distinct advantage over that type of insurance in that a 
man may pay for the protection for the complete period of 
his life during his younger and more productive years, and 
he is not burdened with premium payments in later life, 

TERM INSURANCE 

Term life insurance policies give protection during a 
short period only and then expire. Naturally the rates on 
this type of insurance are very low as compared with 
the rates on other types. These policies generally grant 
the insured the privilege of renewing at advanced rates 
without medical examination, and also frequently give 
him opportunity to change from this kind of insurance to 
some other. 

ENDOWMENT INSURANCE 

Endowment insurance provides that the insured, after 
paying the premium for a given number of years, will 
receive a certain sum of money. If he should die before the 
end of that period, the amount of the policy will go to the 
beneficiary. Endowments are attractive to a large number 
of those seeking insurance. One reason for this popularity 
is, that the insured is protecting his children when they are 
at tender age and can not be self-supporting. They do not 
so much need the protection after approaching maturity. 
A second reason is, that endowment insurance is a conven- 
ient method of saving for old age. It is comforting to 
know that when one reaches the age of sixty, let us say, he 
will come into several thousand dollars by the expiration 



LIFE INSURANCE 123 

of an endowment policy. Again, endowment insurance is 
advocated as a good investment, — good because safe and 
because the premiums are accumulating interest. This 
rate of interest is not usually high, but the investment is 
free from the risk frequently attending investments where 
the rates of interest are much higher. 

ANNUITY INSURANCE 

There are so many variations of the above described 
types of insurance that it would be impossible to deal with 
them in the scope of this book. A few are merely mentioned 
here. There is, for instance, annuity insurance, which pro- 
vides that, instead of the payment of the proceeds of the 
policy in a lump sum, payment be made in a fixed 
number of annual installments or by a continuous annual 
income during the lifetime of the beneficiary. A policy of 
this kind prevents the loss of the proceeds of the policy by 
unwise investment by the beneficiary. Endowment annu- 
ity insurance is similar to the annuity type just mentioned, 
except that the annual income installments are paid to the 
insured if he is still living at the date of the expiration of 
the policy, and, after his death, to the beneficiary. 

INSURABLE INTEREST 

Just as in property insurance the applicant must have 
an insurable interest in the property, so must the applicant 
for life insurance have an insurable interest in the life of the 
insured. Every person has an insurable interest in his own 
life. Every person has an insurable interest in the life of 
any person upon whom he depends for support, also in the 
life of any person in any way obligated to him for the pay- 
ment of money. Husband and wife have insurable interests 
in the lives of each other. But a nephew has no insurable 



124 FARMERS' LAW 

interest in an aunt upon whom he is not dependent wholly or 
in part. But if a person has an insurable interest at the date 
the policy is taken out, the policy is not affected in case the 
interest ceases. The policy may be assigned to anyone 
whether or not the new beneficiary has an insurable interest. 

APPLICATIONS FOR INSURANCE 

The application for life insurance and the policy com- 
bined make up the entire contract between the insured and 
the insurer. For this reason an authentic copy of the 
application is usually attached to the policy given the 
insured. 

MINNESOTA POLICIES 

In a law passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 1907, 
and later changed, six forms of standard policies covering 
the various types of life insurance are authorized. The 
act further provides that no other form of policy can be 
used unless it has previously been filed with the State 
Insurance Commissioner and approved by him. For the 
protection of patrons of life insurance companies, this act 
also sets forth provisions that must be contained in policies 
not following one of these six authorized forms. The gist 
of those provisions is here set down : 

(1) A grace of one month is allowed for the payment of 
all premiums but the first, during which month the 
insurance is to continue in force. This over-due 
premium may, however, be subject to an interest 
charge during that month. 

(2) In "participating" policies there shall be a provi- 
sion that the insured shall share in the divisible 
surplus of the company, beginning not later than 
the end of the third policy year, and that the 



: 



LIFE INSURANCE 



121 



THE 



l : -A 




TRAYELE 

Insurance Company 

of HartfordXonnecticut. s — 

Sy f{|tB fomirarf of Snsimntrr Ayrws to Pag 



Amount 
of 



Srarfiriaru 



3nsurtJi 
■K*je 



JJrtmUtm 



.Snlian 



at Ike Home Office of the Company in Hartford, Connecticut, 



of-tbe Insured, immediate! 



proofs of the death, during ttx continuance of i 



, ^ajwlit* W 



;V 

,-v. 



r ■ in eaclixcar until premiums for_. full years shall have been paid or unlit the 

prior death of the loured: 
BW Jiff** /'temiums shall bcp.tj.uhle in advance al (hi Home Office or to an authorised ayetJ of the Company. 
flatr EffrrliDE This insurar.ee shall be effective from . t.j ■.. The Insurance Years, and all 

subsequent provisions for Cadi Loans, Cash Values, Paid-op and Automatic Term Insurance are computed 

from ,!,.,! dole. 
JlirmttPHlafciltliJ ' Thjs conlracl stall be incontestable oiler one roar from dole of i; sue. except for non-payment of premiums, ft 

is free from conditions as lo resident, occupation, traveler place of death. So permit or extra premium 

will bx: require 1 for military or naval service in lime of war or in time of peace. 

This ccr.lracl is subfeel lo the privileges mid conditions recited on the subsequent page, hereof. 
3n BHlneas fflhpmif THE THAYF.I.IMS ISSVRASCE COMl'AXY has caused this Instrument to be signed by its 

Preside,:! and a Secretary, al Hartford, Connecticut, lint ' I 

day of . ... 10 U. 



SP 



SPWT 



,1) fi | 



FIG. 10. SPECIMEN LIFE INSURANCE POLICY. (First Page.) 



126 FARMERS' LAW 

owner of the policy shall have the right each year 
after the fifth to have the current dividend paid in 
cash. The owner is also given other choices as to 
what is to be done with the dividend. 

(3) The policy shall be incontestable after two years 
from its date except for failure to pay premiums. 
Hence, suicide would not avoid the policy except 
within two years from the date it was drawn. 

(4) All statements made by the insured shall, in the 
absence of fraud, be considered representations 
and not warranties. Only where such statements 
are contained in the application for insurance and 
this application is attached to the policy as a part 
of the contract and where the statements are 
''wilfully false or intentionally misleading" is it 
possible for them to affect the validity of the 
policy. 

(5) If the age of the insured is understated, the policy 
is not avoided, but the amount payable to the 
beneficiary will be as much as the premium which 
has been regularly paid would have purchased at 
the correct age of the insured. 

(6) At any time after three full years' premiums have 
been paid, the insured has the privilege of obtain- 
ing from the company a loan upon the policy. To 
obtain such a loan the insured must assign his 
policy to the company and pay a specified rate of 
interest. In practice this rate has usually been 
six per cent. No other security than the policy 
is to be required. The amount of the largest loan 
that can be made on the policy is to be given in a 
table of loan values included in the insurance 
contract. Failure to pay such loan or interest 



LIFE INSURANCE 127 

can not avoid the policy. Term insurance policies 
are not required to contain this provision. 

(7) When the insured has failed to make payment of 
the premium at any time after premiums have been 
paid for three years, the company must grant to 
the owner of the policy a stipulated type of insur- 
ance, the value of which is regulated by a table 
included in the insurance contract. This pro- 
vision must also state that the policy may be sur- 
rendered to the company within one month from 
the date of failure to pay the regular premium "for 
a specified cash value at least equal to the insurance 
aforesaid." This value is commonly termed the 
"cash surrender value." This requirement is not 
made of policies for term insurance of twenty 
years or less. 

(8) Provision as to time of payment of the proceeds of 
the policy must be either "upon the receipt of due 
proof of death" or "not more than two months after 
the receipt of such proof." 

(9) The title on the face and on the back of the policy 
must correctly describe it. 

OTHER IMPORTANT LIFE INSURANCE REGULATIONS 

The agent has no power to change the terms of a policy. 

Rates, premiums, dividends, and benefits of any kind 
must be the same for all persons of the same class, that is, of 
the same age, occupation, etc., and for the same type of 
insurance. Nor shall there be any unequal treatment on 
account of race. Upon request, the company must furnish 
reasons for rejecting an application for insurance. 

Insurance companies are forbidden to issue or circulate 



128 FARMERS' LAW 

any false statements as to their policy, its benefits, or the 
dividends or shares of surplus to be received under it. 

Every person insured in a mutual company having its 
home office in this state shall be a member of the company, 
with one vote and another vote additional for each one 
thousand dollars of insurance he carries in the company. 
Such a company is required to make an annual division 
of the surplus to members whose policies have been in force 
three years or more. 

The beneficiary may be changed where the right to 
change has been reserved or in the event of the death of the 
beneficiary by filing a written notice of the change at the 
home office of the company. Where the beneficiary is still 
living, this change should have his consent. If the bene- 
ficiary dies before the insured and no new beneficiary has 
been named, the proceeds of the policy will be paid to the 
estate of the insured. 

FRATERNAL INSURANCE 

During the last half-century fraternal society or 
assessment insurance has become common. One might 
term this co-operative life insurance. In order to meet the 
obligations arising because of death among the members, 
assessments are made upon all members. If assessments 
are not paid the policy is forfeited. It has been found a 
universal rule with these organizations that, as the society 
and its members grow old, deaths occur more frequently, 
causing higher or more frequent assessments. These 
increased costs discourage many members and they with- 
draw, thereby making the assessments still heavier upon 
those that remain. The fraternal features of these associa- 
tions are worthy of some consideration, and while they are 
young they furnish a very cheap form of protection. They 



LIFE INSURANCE 129 

can not be made permanent, business-like organizations 
until their rates of insurance are made approximately as 
high as those of "old line" life insurance companies. These 
organizations are now somewhat under the control of and 
receive their licenses from the State Insurance Commis- 
sioner. 

CASUALTY INSURANCE 

Casualty or accident insurance provides indemnity for 
"loss of life, sight or limb." Indemnity for losses of this 
kind is paid in lump sums, the amount depending upon the 
seriousness of the disability For example, the writer has 
before him a policy that provides an indemnity of six hun- 
dred dollars for "loss of life, both feet, both hands," etc., and 
but three hundred dollars for the loss of either hand or 
either foot, and two hundred for the loss of the entire sight 
of one eye. Most of these casualty policies also contain 
provisions for indemnity during illness of the insured. The 
payment of indemnity in case of illness is customarily by 
a definite weekly stipend. Casualty insurance is also sub- 
ject to partial regulation by the state. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

NOTES, CHECKS, AND DRAFTS 

NOTES 

The more common kinds of commercial paper are notes, 
checks, and drafts. 

When a farmer or other person wishes to make the pur- 
chase, let us say, of seed grain or of a farm implement, but 
has not the ready money to pay for it, he may secure what 
he wants by giving his note. A note is simply an uncon- 
ditional promise in writing to pay to a certain person a defi- 
nite amount of money at some specified future time. The 
one who makes the promise signs the note, and is called its 
maker. The person to whom he promises payment is the 
payee. 

Frequently where the payee so desires, another person, 
as "surety," signs the note with the maker. In such cases 
this additional signer becomes liable if the original debtor 
does not meet his obligations. 

In our state a note or other obligation my bear no 
greater rate of interest than ten per cent. Where interest is 
to be paid but no rate has been fixed, it is understood to be 
six per cent. 

CHECKS 

Instead of keeping about their homes or persons any 
considerable sums of money, most people make a practice 
of depositing such money in the banks. When they wish to 
make payment to any other person of a part or all of the 



NOTES, CHECKS, AND DRAFTS 



131 



amount deposited, they write out an order on the bank 
directing it to make payment to this other person. This 
order is known as a check. The person ordering payment is 
called the drawer, the bank addressed is the drawee, and 
the person to whom the money is paid is the payee. 




FIG. 11. CHECK PAYABLE TO PAYEE OR BEARER. 




GieneoOrMitm, 




/g^ldhS^m. 



Bank of Glencoe* 




^^^^yr^^- ^ t ^t^ tZ^??-^( 6 -3/^ 





FIG. 12. CHECK PAYABLE TO THE ORDER OF PAYEE. 

It is a good rule to present checks at the bank upon 
which they are drawn as soon as possible after you receive 
them. Unless checks are dated ahead, the law requires 
that they be presented to the bank for payment "within a 
reasonable time," which is, in most cases, within a day after 
they are issued. Otherwise the drawer is freed from lia- 
bility on them. 

The bank on which the check is drawn is not liable to 



132 



FARMERS' LAW 



the payee or other holder unless and until it accepts or 
certifies the check. 

It is rather common practice to draw up checks to the 
payee "or order," or "to the order of" payee, rather than to 
the payee "or bearer." This is done because, in receiving 
payment, the payee must endorse the check, and this 
indorsement makes the check serve the purpose of a 
reciept. 

"Overdrawing" an account at a bank is writing out 
checks upon the bank when the maker, or drawer, has not 
enough funds on deposit or to his credit in the bank for their 
payment. When it is proved that the person drawing the 
checks drew them with the intention of defrauding, knowing 
at the time that he was overdrawing, he is guilty of a gross 
misdemeanor and is subject to a fine of not more than $1000 
or to a prison term of not more than one year, or both. 

DRAFTS 

As it is an unwise act to send any considerable amount 
of money in coin or paper to distant points by mail, the wise 

19Q£_ No»4! 




ISP! \ I 

Glencoe,Minn. 



m M&i ^Katimral % 




FIG. 13. BANK DRAFT. 



avail themselves of one of two methods in sending money: 
(1) the post office or express money order and (2) the bank 
draft. As its name implies, the draft is obtainable at 



NOTES, CHECKS, AND DRAFTS 133 

banks. It is an order by the bank at which it is obtained 
to another banking institution to pay the amount named 
in the instrument to a third person. The parties to the 
draft are the same as in the case of the check. 

NEGOTIABILITY 

Nearly all the instruments that come under the three 
classes described are drawn up to some payee "or order," 
"or bearer," or "to the order of" the payee. These words 
give power to transfer ownership of the instrument, or, as 
it is usually expressed, make the instrument negotiable, if it 
also has these characteristics: (1) it must be in writing and 
signed by the maker or drawer; (2) it must be payable on 
demand or at some fixed date or at some date that can be 
determined ; (3) it must contain a definite promise or order 
to pay a certain sum of money. The negotiability is not 
affected by the omission of the date of making or of the 
statement "for value received" or any statement that 
value has been given. But an instrument is not negotiable 
if it is made payable after the happening of some future 
event, such as when a person named in the note will become 
of age. As death is sure to happen, a note made payable 
after death is negotiable. 

INDORSEMENT 

If the holder of a negotiable note desires to use the money 
before it becomes due, he may sell the instrument to some 
one else. Instruments containing the words "or bearer" 
may be transferred by delivery only, — that is, without 
indorsement. Where the words "or order" are used, the 
paper should be indorsed to be transferred. Indorsement 
means the signature of the payee on the back of the paper. 
"Blank" indorsement is the signature of the payee and 



134 



FARMERS' LAW 



nothing else. An instrument so indorsed is payable to 
bearer. A special indorsement, or "indorsement in full," 
includes this signature and an order to pay to some definite 
person named in the indorsement. "Pay to the order of 
John Jones, (signed) O. F. Miller," is a special indorsement. 
Indorsemenc must be of the entire instrument and 
indorsement of a part only is not considered a transfer of 




FIG. 15. ENDORSEMENT IN FULL. 



the instrument. Where an instrument is payable to the 
order of two or more persons who are not partners, all must 
indorse, unless the one indorsing has been given power to 
indorse for the others. If the name of the person who must 



NOTES, CHECKS, AND DRAFTS 



135 



indorse is incorrectly given or misspelled, he indorses the 
instrument with the name as there given. If he think fit, 
he may also add his correct signature. 

THE INDORSERS' LIABILITY 

Whenever a person indorses a negotiable instrument he 
signifies two things: (1) he gives his consent to its transfer 
and (2) he contracts with all future owners of the instru- 
ment to be responsible for payment if the original debtor 
or any earlier indorser does not meet his obligation. The 
indorser really "backs" the instrument. In order to make 




QUALIFIED ENDORSEMENT. 

an indorser responsible, prompt demand of payment 
should be made of the original debtor. An endorser who 
wishes to be free from liability may indorse as follows: "Pay 
to the order of John Jones without recourse to me, (signed) 
0. F. Miller." This is called a qualified indorsement. 

DATE OF MATURITY 

Days of grace have been abolished by statute in Minne- 
sota. When the day of maturity falls on Sunday or a 
holiday the instrument is payable on the next business day. 



136 



FARMERS' LAW 



Instruments which fall due on Saturday must be presented 
for payment on the next business day, except that those 
payable on demand may be presented before noon on 
Saturday when that entire day is not a holiday. In reck- 




FIG. 17. PROMISSORY NOTE WITHOUT SURETY. 




FIG. 18. 'PROMISSORY NOTE WITH SURETY. 

oning time in instruments not payable on demand the day 
from which the time begins is not counted, but the day of 
payment is counted. 

AMBIGUOUS INSTRUMENTS 

When the amount expressed in words in an instrument 
is not the same as the amount put down in figures, the 
amount named in the words is considered the correct 
amount to be paid. If the words are uncertain, the figures 



NOTES, CHECKS, AND DRAFTS 137 

may be referred to for fixing the amount. If there is a disa- 
greement between the written and printed parts of the note, 
the written parts prevail. If a note does not state the 
date from which the interest is to run, it runs from the date 
of the note. 

FORGED PAPER 

By "forged paper" is meant falsely made, counter- 
feited, or altered paper when made or altered with the 
intention of defrauding. The more common types of for- 
gery are imitating signatures and raising the sums of instru- 
ments. Forgery of this kind is forgery in the first degree 
and is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 
not more than twenty years. Forged paper has no validity 
even in the hands of a holder in good faith. Whoever pur- 
chases it or pays it suffers the loss. 



CHAPTER XXV 

COMMISSION MERCHANTS 

A commission merchant is a person to whom farm prod- 
uce, such as cattle, hay, poultry, etc., is shipped for the 
purpose of sale. He receives his pay from commissions 
taken from the proceeds of the sale. His duty is to sell 
the produce entrusted to him at the best possible price he 
can secure, and his accounts are required to be open to the 
examination of those who consign goods to him. The 
shipper is known as the consignor and the commission mer- 
chant the consignee. 

Commission merchants are required by Minnesota 
statute to obtain licenses from the State Railroad and 
Warehouse Commission at the Capitol in St. Paul and to 
file a bond to the state with the Secretary of State. The 
bond is drawn up for the benefit of those who consign prod- 
uce to the commission merchant. 

Whenever a commission merchant sells any grain he 
must render to the consignor within twenty-four hours of 
the date of sale a true statement in writing, giving the 
amount sold, price received, name and address of pur- 
chaser, and the day, hour, and minute of sale. He must 
also send a statement covering all charges and expenses. 
When a consignor of produce other than grain, after 
demand, has received no remittance or report, he may com- 
plain to the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, who shall 
investigate the matter. In such an investigation all infor- 
mation, books, records, and memoranda must be open to 



COMMISSION MERCHANTS 139 

the commission for inspection. If an account for such 
produce remains unpaid, complaint may be filed by the 
consignor with the commission and he may bring an action 
upon the bond of the commission merchant. The license 
of the commission merchant violating the law may be can- 
celled by the commission if the facts warrant it, and the 
commission may refuse to renew the license for one year. 
Furthermore, any commission merchant defrauding a con 
signor in any way is guilty of larceny, and may be punished 
for that offence through the action of the courts. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

AUCTIONS AND AUCTIONEERS 

In our state, auctions and auctioneers are regulated to 
some extent by law. 

Auctioneers, to ply their trade anywhere in the state, 
must obtain a license from the county board or the county 
auditor. The license fee for one year is ten dollars. The 
auctioneer must also give bond of not less than one thou- 
sand dollars and not more than three thousand dollars. 
The amount of the bond is fixed and the sureties approved 
by the county treasurer. 

The auctioneer is required to keep a correct account of 
all property he sells. This account should include the per- 
son from whom the property was received, the person to 
whom it was sold, and the price. He may receive no goods 
from any person whom he knows to be a minor. To any 
person injured by such acceptance of goods he forfeits a sum 
not to exceed two hundred dollars. 

The statute makes it a misdemeanor for any person not 
licensed as an auctioneer to sell property at auction. Sales 
made by sheriffs, constables, etc., in carrying out the duties 
of their offices are not, of course, violations of the law. 

In the chapter on contracts it was stated that under the 
statute of frauds auction sales of personal property where the 
purchase price is greater than fifty dollars are valid without 
further writing than is necessary to take proper entries 
in the salesbook. 

It is not commonly understood that if the auctioneer or 



AUCTIONS AND AUCTIONEERS 141 

the owner of property about to be put up at auction arranges 
with some person to bid on the property without intending 
to purchase it, he is guilty of fraud against those who are 
bidding in good faith. The contract is void, since the 
purpose is to defraud an innocent third person. The last 
named may rightly return the property struck off to him 
and demand the return of the purchase price. 



CHAPTER XXVI 1 

COMMON CARRIERS 

Common carriers are such persons or corporations as 
undertake to carry freight or passengers for hire. Rail- 
roads are familiar examples of common carriers. As farm- 
ers are frequent patrons of railroad companies, a brief 
chapter bearing on common carriers and our state regula- 
tion of them will not be out of place here. 

BILL OF LADING 

When a man makes shipment of freight he receives what 
is known as a bill of lading. This is a combination of receipt 
and contract, — a receipt for goods left with the railroad 
company to be transported, as well as a contract to carry 
the goods safely to their destination. This bill of lading as 
receipt and contract is signed by the agent of the railroad 
company and is, therefore, binding upon the company. 

LIABILITY 

This pledge of safe delivery also makes the common 
carrier the insurer of goods during transportation. Even 
though the bill of lading may provide specifically that "all 
goods are shipped at the owner's risk," the carrier is liable 
for damages to goods, except when the loss is caused by (1) 
a public enemy, (2) an Act of God, (3) public authority, (4) 
nature of the goods, or (5) the shipper himself. An illustra- 
tion of a public enemy is a strike ; an Act of God might be a 
flood; public authority might seize infected cattle and 



COMMON CARRIERS 143 

destroy them to protect the public health; and a carrier 
could not be held liable for the decay of fruit which was 
already over-ripe when shipped in a refrigerator car properly 
iced. 

COMPLAINT TO RAILROAD AND WAREHOUSE COMMISSION 

In Minnesota, the Railroad and Warehouse Commission 
has general supervision over these common carriers. It is 
made up of three commissioners elected by the people for 
a term of six years. All grievances against common carriers 
are brought before it in the following manner : 

(1) Complaint is made before the commission by the 
aggrieved person. 

(2) The commission, if reasonable grounds for com- 
plaint appear, orders the carrier to grant relief or show 
cause within twenty days. 

(3) If the matter is not adjusted, a hearing is held. 
After the hearing the commission issues its orders or makes 
recommendation . 

The complaints may, among other things, bear upon 
unreasonable or excessive rates, as well as upon any other 
grievances that may arise. 

CARS 

To obtain cars at a station on a railroad a shipper of any 
kind of freight makes written application to the agent of the 
railroad. The carrier is then required to furnish the cars 
asked for within forty-eight hours or less at terminal points 
on the railroad and within seventy-two hours at inter- 
mediate points. For failure to do as here described the 
carrier must forfeit to the person making application one 
dollar per day for each car it fails to furnish, besides all 
damages the applicant sustains. Within twenty-four hours 



144 FARMERS' LAW 

of receipt of notice that cars have been loaded by the 
shipper, the carrier must forward them toward their des- 
tination. Failure to do so is punished as in the case of 
failure to provide cars. The shipper is given forty-eight 
hours to load cars furnished him, and for every twenty-four 
hours or fraction thereof of delay beyond forty-eight hours 
the shipper must pay a demurrage charge of one dollar. 
For unloading cars the consignee is allowed seventy-two 
hours for soft coal, bulk lime, fruit, vegetables, or lumber 
shipments, and forty-eight hours for other shipments. For 
delay in unloading, the consignee pays demurrage charges 
as in the case of the shipper's delay in loading. The rail- 
road company must give notice to consignees within twenty- 
four hours after arrival of cars. In all of the above cases 
Sundays and legal holidays are excepted. 

SHIPPING LIVE STOCK 

Railroad companies are required to transport all live 
stock with "proper speed." The Railroad and Warehouse 
Commission may not set that speed at less than twelve 
miles per hour. This rule applies only to shipments wholly 
within the state. 

Common carriers receiving car-load shipments of live 
stock are required by statute to furnish transportation for 
persons to care for such stock, — one person for the first 
car-load, and one for each four additional cars. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

MISCELLANEOUS 

REPLEVIN 

Replevin is an action brought to again obtain possession 
of personal property that has been wrongfully taken or is 
wrongfully withheld. By giving bond, the person making 
the complaint may have the property taken from the per- 
son wrongfully holding it and have it kept in the care of 
the proper officer until the question of the right to possession 
is settled in the court. Actions of this kind must be com- 
menced within six years after the taking or wrongful hold- 
ing of the property. 

ATTACHMENT 

A writ of attachment is an order to the sheriff or other 
officer to take some certain property of the defendant and 
hold it as security for a judgment which may be obtained. 
This writ is used mostly in cases where the debtor absconds, 
hides himself, has contracted the debt dishonestly, or where 
he lives outside the state and has goods within the state 
and is dishonestly avoiding payment of the debt. The 
writ is obtained from the clerk of court by the plaintiff 
after the latter has made affidavit that one or more of the 
above named causes or similar causes for action exist. 
The plaintiff must also give a bond of at least $250 to 
guarantee the payment of all costs if judgment should be 
given for the defendant. The writ orders the sheriff at 
once to attach and safely keep the defendant's property 



146 FARMERS' LAW 

that he finds in the county or so much of it as will meet 
the claim and costs. 

GARNISHMENT 

By garnishment proceedings a person owing money to 
the defendant may be brought into court and by its action 
ordered to pay the money into its charge and not to the 
defendant. Garnishment is often used to force a third 
party owing wages to the defendant to pay a part of them 
to the court or to keep same to satisfy any judgment the 
plaintiff may obtain in the court. The third party is 
known as the garnishee. 

INJUNCTION 

The writ of injunction is an order of the court com- 
pelling some certain person to refrain from doing some 
particular thing. It is issued when it appears to the court 
that the doing of that thing will work harm to the plain- 
tiff. An injunction may also be granted where the defen- 
dant threatens or is about to remove or dispose of his prop- 
erty, intending thereby to cheat the plaintiff. The injunc- 
tion prevents the doing of the particular thing while await- 
ing the final action of the judge or court. 

LIBEL AND SLANDER 

Libel is "every malicious publication by writing, print- 
ing, picture, effigy, sign, or otherwise than by mere speech, 
which shall expose any living person, or the 'memory of one 
deceased, to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which 
shall cause or tend to cause any person to be shunned or 
avoided, or which shall have the tendency to injure any person 
in his business or occupation." Slander is doing the same 
thing in speech only. For instance, Jones may say that 



MISCELLANEOUS 147 

Brown removed the clothing from a dead man and stole them 
for himself. We will say that the statement is false. Jones 
is guilty of slander. If he had written the statement or 
caused it to be printed, it would have been libel. To sus- 
tain the charge of publication of libel, Brown would need 
to prove that Beamer or some other person saw the written 
or printed statement. Every publication of this kind would 
be considered malicious if it could not be proved or no ex- 
cuse could be shown for it. But Jones would be justified 
if the statement was true and was published with good 
motives. 

It is not libel to publish a fair and true report of any 
official proceeding as of a legislature or a court, or of any 
statement or speech that is a part of the same, unless it be 
proved that malice prompted the report. 

Those who publish libelous statements are guilty of a 
misdemeanor and are also subject to suit for damages. 
Those who threaten to publish such statements are guilty 
of a gross misdemeanor. 

Action for libel or slander must be begun within two 
years from the date the statement was made. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE FARMER AND THE LAWYER 

This book has not been written to serve the farmer as 
a substitute for the lawyer. No book or library of books 
can serve that purpose. The lawyer's profession exists 
because there is need for him. In these chapters as occasion 
has arisen the reader has been advised, when he is consider- 
ing any important legal move where a seemingly unimpor- 
tant mistake may -have dire consequences, to secure the 
services of a competent attorney. Of course, no farmer — or 
other person not learned in the law — should make a pur- 
chase of real estate, draw a will, enter into any contract 
of real significance, or do any other similar act of equal 
moment, without the advice of an attorney. And there 
are many other occasions, needless to mention here, when 
the farmer should have the advice of a lawyer. 

Granted the need for lawyers, what should be the atti- 
tude of the farmer toward his attorney? 

After a client has asked the advice of his attorney and 
obtained it, he should follow that advice. Failure to follow 
such advice too frequently ends in disaster, and the attorney 
is too commonly charged with the disaster. 

Too many people ask the lawyer to help them do what 
their own best judgment tells them they should not do, 
endeavoring by the lawyer's assistance to salve their con- 
sciences for actions they cannot themselves completely 
justify. If judgment and conscience dictate a certain line 
of action, no "lawing" can make another line just, even 



THE FARMER AND THE LAWYER 149 

though the courts so decide. Winning a lawsuit unfortu- 
nately does not always signify the triumph of the right. 

Among the most disagreeable and at the same time 
most pitiable people in the world are those who are con- 
stantly involved in some petty litigation, always having 
a meatless legal bone to pick. With some of these people 
"lawing" almost becomes a mania. They are not happy 
unless they have some cause or other in the courts. Well- 
meaning lawyers avoid them. They alienate the few 
friends they have and fall heir to the wholesome disrespect 
of all with whom they come in contact. A full recognition 
of the fact that there are two sides to every question will 
prevent the formation of this habit and the desire to go to 
law over trivial differences. 

Then there are those who are not fully frank with law- 
yers whose assistance they are asking, — who state only a 
part of the circumstances that bring them to him, or relate 
those circumstances in distorted form, keeping under cover 
what their attorney should know in order to give his best 
help. Some one who once keenly experienced the disaster 
that such indirection brings said that there are at least 
three persons with whom one must be absolutely honest 
at all times, — one's physician, one's lawyer, and oneself. 

To go to your lawyer in all important legal matters and 
to follow his advice after it is given you, to be honest with 
him, to refrain from asking him to help you do what your 
judgment tells you should not be done, to recall that there 
are two sides to every question, to remember that right 
does not universally triumph when disputes are settled in 
court, and to avoid litigation over trivial matters, — these 
are the finger-posts that should guide the farmer — or any 
other person — in his attitude toward the legal profession. 



INDEX 



Accident insurance, 129. 

Acknowledgment, 22. 

Acquiring a farm, 12-18. 

Adjoining districts, setting off 
land to, 89. 

Adjustment of insurance, 116; in 
town mutual companies, 119. 

Administration of estates, 103- 
110; where a will has been 
made, 105-107; where no will 
has been made, 107-110. 

Administrator, appointment of, 
106. _ 

Advertising, by candidates for 
office, 100. 

Agisters, defined, 50; lien of, 50. 

Agricultural seed law, 40-43; pen- 
alties for violating, 41-42. 

Aid to rural schools, special state, 
91-92; for association, 92-93; 
for consolidation, 94-95. 

Ambiguous instruments, 136-137. 

Amendments to the State Con- 
stitution, how adopted, 101-102. 

Animals, farm, 46-53; estrays, 46- 
47; distraining, 47; liability of 
railroads, 47; damage caused 
by, 48; diseased, 48-49; brought 
into the state, 49-50; lien for 
shoeing, 49-50; lien of agisters, 
50; lien for service of stallions, 
etc., 51; cruelty to, 51-52. 

Annual school meeting, 90; powers 
of, 90. m 

Annuity insurance, 123. 

Appeals from action of town and 
county boards as to roads, 72, 
74. ^ 

Appraisal of estates of deceased 
persons, 106-107. 

Assessment, 80-82; dates of, 80-81; 
of real estate, 81-82; of personal 
property, 81-83. 

Assessor, 80-82. 



Association of rural schools, 92-93 ; 

procedure, 92; state aid for, 92- 

93. 
Attachment, writ of, 104. 
Attestation of wills, 104. 
Auction contracts, 11, 141. 
Auctioneers' licenses, 140. 
Auctions, 140-141. 

Ballot, partisan, 97, 98; non-par- 
tisan, 98. 

Bill of lading, 142. 

Board members, school, election 
of, 90. 

Bond of executor or administrator, 
106. 

Bonds for permanent improve- 
ment, of county roads, 68-69; 
of town roads, 73-74. 

Boundaries, farm, 54; streams and 
lakes as, 56. 

Boundary disputes, 54. 

Bridges, contracts for, 76; inspec- 
tion of, 76; width, 76; crossing, 
with traction engines, 79. 



Campaign expenditures, 100-101; 
statement of, 101. 

Candidates for office, advertising 
limitations of, 100. 

Cars furnished by common carri- 
ers, 143-144. 

Cartways, 73. 

Casualty insurance, 129. 

Chattel mortages, 23-24; registry, 
23; foreclosure, 23-24; form, 24; 
redemption after foreclosure, 24. 

Checks, 130-132. 

Children, born after a will has 
been made, 107; not benefiting 
under a will, 107 ; guardians for 
children, 110; posthumous chil- 
dren, share in estate, 110. 

Collection of taxes, 85. 



INDEX 



151 



Commercial paper, 130-137; notes, 

130; checks, 130-132; drafts, 

132-133. 
Commission merchants, 138-139. 
Common carriers, 142-144; cars 

furnished by, 143-144. 
Common law, denned, 8; source, 8. 
Compulsory education law, 95. 
Consideration, 9-10. 
Consolidation of rural schools, 

93-95; procedure, 93-94; state 

aid to consolidated schools, 94- 

95. 
Constitution, defined, 7-8. 
Constitutional amendments, how 

passed, 101. 

Contracts, 9-11; defined, 9; for 
the sale of land, 10; made by 
incompetents, 10; made by 
married women, 10; made by 
minors, 10; not to be performed 
within the year, 10; to perform 
unlawful acts, 10; when to be 
in writing, 10; auctions, 11; for 
personal property for more than 
fifty dollars, 11; installment 
contract, acquiring a farm under, 
18. 

Co-operation, recent developments 
in, 113. 

Co-operative associations, 111- 
113; kinds of enterprises con- 
ducted by, 111; organization, 
111-112; management, 112; dis- 
solving, 112. 

Corrupt practices act, 100-101. 

County ditches, 61-63. 

County line roads, 69. 

County roads, 67-69. 

Covenants, in a warranty deed, 
13, 15; in a mortgage deed, 19. 

Cream, shipment of, 37. 

Creamery associations, reports to 
Dairy and Food Commission, 

„ 112 " 113 - 

Creditors, notice to, in admin- 
istering estates, 106. 

Crops, on shares, 30; damages to, 
35. 



Cruelty to animals, 51-52. 

Culverts, town board to build, 56; 
width of, 76; crossing with trac- 
tion engines, 79. 

Cyclone insurance, mutual, 1 19- 
120. 

Dairy and Food Commission, 
report to, of creamery associa- 
tions, 112-113. 

Dairy products, 36-37; licenses to 
sell, 36; use of preservatives in, 
36; sale of unwholesome or 
adulterated, 36-37; Babcock 
test required in purchase of, 
37; discrimination in prices 
paid for, 37. 

Damage, to crops, 35; caused by 
animals, 48. 

Date of maturity of negotiable 
instruments, 135-136. 

Dedication, of land for road, 73; 
of road by use, 75. 

Deed, defined, 12; kinds, 12; war- 
ranty, 12-16; quitclaim, 16-17; 
mortgage, 19-23. 

Delinquent taxes, 85-87. 

Descent of property, according to 
law, 108-110; homestead, 108; 
other real estate, 108-109; per- 
sonal property, 109. 

Designating a state road, 64-65. 

Discrimination in prices paid for 
dairy products, 37. 

Diseased animals, 48-49. 

Dissolving a school district, 89-90. 

Distraining, 47. 

Distribution of taxes, 87. 

District, school, to form a new, 
88; to enlarge a school district, 
89; dissolving a school district, 
89-90. 

Ditches, 61-63; process of estab- 
lishment, 62-63. 

Dogs, 52-53. 

Drafts, 132-133. 

Dragging fund for town roads, 71. 

Drainage ditches, 61-63. 

Drainage of town roads, 74. 



152 



INDEX 



Drunken persons, power to make 
contracts, 10. 

Education, compulsory, 95. 

Elections, primary and general, 
96-102; presidential preference 
primary, 96-97; state-wide pri- 
mary, 98-100; who is nominated 
at primary elections, 98-100; 
general, 100; additional rules 
for the conduct of elections, 102. 

Electors, nomination of, 97. 

Emblements, right of lessee to, 30; 
denned, 33. 

Employees, may leave work to 
vote, 102. _ 

Endowment insurance, 122-123. 

Engines, traction, 79. 

Enlarging a school district, 89. 

Equalization, 82-83. 

Estates of deceased persons, ad- 
ministration of, 103-110. 

Estovers, 30. 

Estrays, 46-47. 

Eviction, 30. 

Executor of estate of deceased 
person, 106. 

Exempt, property, from taxation, 
81. 

Express contracts, 9. 

Extending the taxes, 84-85. 

Extraordinary improvement of 
roads, county, 68-69; town, 
73-74. 

Farm animals, 46-53; estrays, 46- 
47; distraining, 47; liability of 
railroads, 47; damage caused by, 
48; diseased, 48-49; cruelty to, 
51-52. 

Farm boundaries, 54; settling dis- 
putes as to, 54. 

Farm laborers, 31-32; wages of, 
when not agreed upon in ad- 
vance, 31; right to discharge, 
32; obligations of, 32. 

Farm products, 33-37. 

Farmer and the lawyer, the, 148- 
149. 



Farmers' mutual insurance com- 
panies, 117-120. 
Feeble-minded, incompetent to 

make wills, 103. 
Fence viewers, town board as, 57. 
Fences, legal, 57-58; line, 58-59; 

removal of, by town and county 

boards, 74-75. 
Filing for elections, 97-98; by 

petition, 98. 
Fires, caused by sparks from rail- 

road^ engine, 35; spreading to 

a neighbor's land, 57. 
First and second choice votes at 

primary elections, 99-100. 
Foreclosure of mortgages, 23. 
Forged paper, 137. 
Forgery, 137. 

Fraternal insurance, 128-129. 
Frauds, Statue of, 10-11. 
Fruit trees on or near boundary 

lines, 56. 
Full age, 103. 
Fund for dragging town roads, 71. 

Garnishment, 146. 

Gasoline permit, 115. 

General election, 100. 

Glanders, 48. 

Grain exempt from levy, 34-35. 

Guardians, 110. 

Hail insurance, mutual, 119-120. 

Hedge, raising on property abut- 
ting on road, 55. 

Highway, weeds growing on, 44. 

Hog cholera serum, 50; who may 
use, 50. 

Homestead, defined, 15; descent 
of, 108. 

Ice, right to, in streams, 61. 
Idiots, right to make contracts, 

10. 
Implied contracts, 9. 
Indorsement, 133-135; blank, 133 

134; in full, 134; qualified, 135. 
Indorsers' liabilitv, 135. 



INDEX 



153 



Injunction, 146. 

Inspection of nursery stock, 38-39. 

Installment contract, acquiring a 
farm under, 18. 

Insurable interest, 123-124. 

Insurance, property, 114; Minne- 
sota Standard Policy, 114-116; 
adjustment, 116, 119; hail, 
tornado and cyclone, 119-120; 
life, 121-129; fraternal, 128-129; 
casualty, 129. 

Insurance Commissioner, duties 
of, 117, 120, 124, 129. 

Insurance companies, town mut- 
ual, 117-119. 

Insured, obligations of, 114-115; 
statement of, 115-116. 

Intemperate drivers, 79. 

Interest, insurable, 123-124. 

Intestate, administration of estate 
where deceased died, 107-110. 

Inventory of estate of deceased 
person, 106-107. 

Judicial ditches, 61-63. 

Kerosene, right to use, under 
insurance policy, 115. 

Laborers, farm, 31-32. 
Lakes as boundaries, 56. 
Landlord and tenant, covenants 

of, 25-26. 
Larceny, 34. 
Law, in general, 7-8; statutes, 

7-8; unwritten, 7-8; written, 

7-8; common, 8. 
Lawyer, the farmer and the, 148- 

149. 
Leases, parties to, 25; oral and 

written, 25; forms of, 26-29; 

tenure of, 29. 
Legal fences, 57-58. 
Lessee, right of, to emblements, 

30. 
Levy of taxes, 83-84. 
Levy upon grain, when made, 34. 
Liability of railroads, as to farm 

animals, 47; as common carri- 
ers, 142-143. 



Libel, 146-147. 

License to sell dairy products, 36. 

Lien, threshers', 35-36; agisters', 
50; shoers', 50-51; for service 
of stallions, etc., 51. 

Life insurance, 121-129; defined, 
121; ordinary, 121; limited pay- 
ment, 121-122; kinds, 121-123; 
term, 122; endowment, 122- 
123; annuity, Minnesota pol- 
icies, 124-128; first page of 
specimen policy, 125; fraternal, 
128-129. 

Line fences, 58-59. 

Liquor, sale of, on election days, 
102. 

Live Stock Sanitary Board, func- 
tion of, 48-50. m 

Live stock, shipping, 144. 

Lunatics, right to make contracts, 
10. 

Manure, rights of landlord and 
tenant to, 34. 

Married women, right to make 
contracts, 10. 

Maturity, date of, of negotiable 
instruments, 135-136. 

Meeting and passing on roads, 77. 

Meetings, annual school, 90; spec- 
ial school, 90. 

Minors, defined, 32; wages of, to 
whom paid, 32. 

Moneys and credits tax, 82. 

Mortgage, chattel, 23-24; fore- 
closure, 23; registry, 23; form, 
24. 

Mortgage deed, 19-24; parties, to 
19; defeasance clause, 19; cov- 
enants in, 19; use of, 19; form 
of, 20-21; signature, etc., 22; 
registry tax, 22; discharge of 
record, 22-23; foreclosure, 23. 

Motor vehicles, on roads, 77-78; 
use of muffler on, 77; who may 
not drive, 78; in case of acci- 
dent, 78; equipment of, 78-79. 

Mutual insurance companies, 
town, 117-119; hail, tornado 
and cyclone, 119-120. 



154 



INDEX 



National convention, election of 
delegates to, 97. 

Navigability, 56. 

Navigable streams, as boundaries, 
56; right to ice in, 61. 

Negotiability, 133. 

Negotiable instruments, 130-137. 

Nonpartisan ballot, 98. 

Notes, 130. 

Nursery certificates, how ob- 
tained, 38. 

Nursery stock, 38-39; inspection 
of, 38; infested, 38; shipment 
of, 39; from outside the state, 
39. 

Occupation, term of, to give title, 
54. 

Old roads, to be open two years, 
75. 

Oral testimony, effect of, on writ- 
ten contract, 11. 

Overdrawing an account, 132. 

Overseer, of town roads, 70. 

Part payment to "bind the bar- 

gain," 11. 
Party lines, in the presidential 

preference primary election, 97; 

in the state-wide primary elec- 
tion, 98. 
Passing on roads, 77. 
Pasturing, lien for, 50. 
Personal property, assessment, 

81-83; effect of wills on descent 

of, 107; descent, 109. 
Plans for state roads, 65. 
Polls, how long to be open, 102. 
Posthumous children, share in 

estate, 110. 
Powers and duties of school 

boards, 90-91. 
Powers of annual school meeting, 

90. 
Premium, insurance, defined, 114. 
Preservatives, use of, in dairy 

products, 36. 
President and vice-president, how 

names of candidates for are 

placed on election ballots, 97. 



Presidential preference primary 
election, 96-97; date of, 96. 

Primary election, presidential pref- 
erence, 96-97; state- wide, 98- 
100. 

Probating a will, 105-106. 

Produce shipped to commission 
merchants, 138-139. 

Promises to answer for the debt 
of another, 10. 

Property exempt from taxation, 
81. 

Property insurance, 114-120; defi- 
nitions, 114; Minnesota Stand- 
ard Policy, 114-116. 

Quitclaim deed, 16-17; use of, 16; 
form of, 16-17. 

Railroad and Warehouse Commis- 
sion, control of commission mer- 
chants, 138-139; of common 
carriers, 143. 

Railroads, liability as to farm 
animals, 47; as common carri- 
ers, 142-144; cars furnished by, 
143-144. 

Real estate assessment, 81-82. 

Real estate, purchasing, 12-18. 

Rent, defined, 25. 

Replevin, 145. 

Report to Dairy and Food Com- 
mission, of creamery associa- 
tions, 112. 

Revoking wills, 105. 

Riparian rights, 60-61. 

Road overseer, 70. 

Road taxes, in towns, 70-71. 

Roads, abutting on the farm, 
55-56; right to grass and trees 
on, 55; planting trees on, 55; 
establishment and maintenance 
of, 64-76; kinds, 64; state roads, 
64-67; county, 67-69; issuing 
bonds for improvement of, 
68-69, 73-74; in two or more 
counties or on county lines, 69; 
establishment, alteration, etc., 
of town roads, 71-72; on town 



INDEX 



155 



lines, 72; in new towns, 72-73; 
cartways, 73; dedication of land 
for, 73, 75; drainage of town 
roads, 74; tunnels under, 75; 
old, to be open two years, 75; 
use of, 77-79. 
Sales at auction, 140-141. 

School board, powers and duties 
of, 90-91; powers of, in con- 
solidated districts, 94. 

School districts, kinds, 88; form- 
ing, 88; enlarging, 89; dissolv- 
ing, 89. 

School meetings, annual, 90; spec- 
ial, 90. 

Schools, 88-95; special state aid 

to rural, 91-92; association of 

rural, 92-93; consolidated, 93- 
. 95. 
Second choice votes in primary 

elections, 99-100. 
Seed grain contracts, 35; when 

used, 35. 
Seed law, 40-43; penalties for 

violating, 41-42. 
Serum, hog cholera, 50. 
Service of stallions, etc., lien for, 
. 51. 
Settlement of estates of deceased 

persons, where a will has been 

made, 107. 
Setting off land to an adjoining 

school district, 89. 
Shipping live stock, 144. 
Shoeing, lien for, 50-51. 
Shore rights, 60-61. 

Short form, of warranty deed, 
12-13, 14; of quitclaim deed, 
16, 17; of will, 103. 

Signature, in warranty deed, 15. 

"Sixty-five mile" law, 37. 

Slander, 146-147. 

Special school meetings, 90. 

Speed of motor vehicles, 77-78. 

Spouse, surviving, as adminis- 
trator, 106; share of, in estate, 
^ 108-109. 
Stallions, lien for service of, 51. 



State aid, to rural schools, 91-92; 

to consolidated schools, 94-95. 
State ditches, 61-63. 
State Highway Commission, 64. 
State road and bridge fund, 65-66. 
State roads, 64-67; state aid for, 

65-66; upkeep of, 66. 
State-wide primary election, 98- 

100. 
Statute, defined, 7. 
Statute of Frauds, 10-11. 
Stock in co-operative associations, 

111-112. 
Streams, as boundaries, 56; as 

public highways, 61. 
Subject matter of contracts, 10. 
Surety, 130. 
Surface waters, 61. 
Surviving spouse, as administra- 
tor, 106; descent of property 

to, 108-109. 

Tax Commission, 83. 

Taxes, 80-87; mortgage registry, 
22, 87; road, in towns, 70-71; 
for the dragging fund, 71; 
moneys and credits, 82, 87; de- 
linquent, 85-87; inheritance, 87; 
gross earnings, 87. 

Taxing process, steps in, 80-87; 
assessment, 80-82; equalization, 
82-83; levy, 83-84; extending, 
84-85; collection, 85; delinquent 
taxes, 85-87; distribution, 87. 

Tenant, covenants of, 25, 27, 29; 
tenant "from year to year", 29; 
eviction of, 30. 

Tenure of lease, 29. 

Theshers' lien, 35-36. 

Timber, rights of tenant to, 30. 

Title, defined, 12. 

Tornado insurance, mutual, 119- 
120. 

Town board, may order trees or 
hedges on roads cut down, 55; 
to build culvert for owner of 
land abutting on a road, 56; 
as fence viewers, 57; and town 
roads, 69-70; and cartways, 73. 



156 



INDEX 



Town ditches, 61-63. 

Town line roads, 72. 

Town mutual insurance compan- 
ies, 111, 117-119; certificate of 
incorporation, 117-118; kinds of 
property to be insured, 118; 
how supported, 118-119. 

Town road overseer, 70. 

Town roads, 69-74; town boards 
and, 69-70; establishment, alter- 
ation, etc., of, 71-72; extra- 
ordinary improvement of, 73- 
74; drainage of, 74. 

Town road taxes, 70-71. 

Traction engines, 79. 

Transportation of pupils, power 
of the board to provide, 91; in 
consolidated districts, 94. 

Trees, on roads abutting on farms, 
55; on boundary lines, 56. 

Trespass, 34. 

Tuberculous live stock, 48-49. 

Tunnels under roads, 75; bridges 
over, 75. 

Underwriter, defined, 114. 
Unnavigable streams, right to ice 
in, 61. 



Unwritten law, 7-8. 
Use of roads, 77-79. 



Voters, 9.6. 

Wagers not contracts, 10. 

Wages of minors, to whom paid, 
32. 

Warranty deed, 12-16; form, 13- 
14; covenants, 13, 15; changes 
in, after delivery, 15; husband 
and wife joining in, 15. 

Waters of the farm, 60-63; sur- 
face waters, 61. 

Weeds, 44-45 ; method of enforcing 
the law, 44-45. 

Wills and administration, 103-110. 

Wills, who may make, 103; form 
of, 103-104; attestation of, 104; 
how revoked, 105; settlement 
of estate according to provisions 
of, 107; children not benefiting 
under, 107. 

Witnessess, competent, for valid 

will, 104-105. 
Written law, 7. 



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